The Corner
Cop Who Shot Twelve-Year-Old Cleveland Boy Resigned from Previous Job Because of Emotional Instability
Some of those blaming the deaths of Michael Brown in Ferguson and Eric Garner in New York City on institutional racism in the criminal-justice system have pointed to death of twelve-year-old Tamir Rice in Cleveland as further evidence. On November 22, Rice was playing with a BB gun in a park when police arrived, tipped off to someone in the vicinity waving a firearm. Within seconds of leaving the vehicle, Tim Loehmann, a rookie with the Cleveland Division of Police, opened fire, killing the boy. The orange safety tip had apparently come off Rice’s gun, making it look like a lethal weapon, and leaving Loehmann — so the officer says, at least — with “no choice.” The incident was caught on (grainy) surveillance video.
Now comes this story from the Cleveland Plain-Dealer:
A Nov. 29, 2012 letter contained in Tim Loehmann’s personnel file from the Independence Police Department says that during firearms qualification training he was “distracted” and “weepy.”
“He could not follow simple directions, could not communicate clear thoughts nor recollections, and his handgun performance was dismal,” according to the letter written by Deputy Chief Jim Polak of the Independence police.
The letter recommended that the department part ways with Loehmann, who went on to become a police officer with the Cleveland Division of Police.
“I do not believe time, nor training, will be able to change or correct the deficiencies,” Polak said. . . .
Polak concluded his report by saying that Loehmann lacked the maturity to understand the severity of his breakdown on the shooting range.
“Unfortunately in law enforcement there are times when instructions need to be followed to the letter and I am under the impression that Ptl. Loehmann, under certain circumstances, will not react in the way instructed,” Polak wrote.
Cleveland officials drove to Independence to gather information about hiring the officer who eventually shot Tamir Rice, but never looked at his personnel file.
Assuming the Plain-Dealer’s reporting is accurate, it would suggest two things:
First, the circumstances surrounding the shooting are more complicated than a race-driven execution. Already the possibility existed that Rice’s behavior with the gun when police arrived may have frightened Loehmann (as he claims). If he was not emotionally equipped to handle that type of situation, his seemingly reflexive decision to pull the trigger would make more sense. That does not justify the shooting — a local prosecutor, and likely a grand jury, will have to make that determination — but it is one not-unthinkable explanation.
Second, some have questioned the police department’s account of the events. Without getting into the weeds of this case, it is evident that, if the officer should never have been on patrol in the first place, the primary fault lies with the department — and doubly so if the department did not perform due diligence. Since the Plain-Dealer reports that the Cleveland Division of Police has since changed its hiring policies “to include checking publicly available records for potential hires,” it may be that the department performed due diligence — but that said diligence was inadequate.
Whatever the ultimate facts, it is clear that the circumstances surrounding this case do not lend themselves to a simple black-versus-white narrative — just like in Staten Island, in Ferguson, and in Sanford.