Cleveland police officer Timothy Loehmann shot 12 year old Tamir Rice less than 3 seconds after getting out of his car

Cleveland police officer Timothy Loehmann shot 12 year old Tamir Rice less than 3 seconds after getting out of his car. Now Cleveland’s police union wants him back on the force.

The Cleveland police department’s investigation after Loehmann killed Tamir Rice revealed that Loehman had lied on his job application, claiming he left another police department for “personal reasons” — when in fact the department had determined he wasn’t emotionally stable enough to be a police officer. The Cleveland Police department fired Loehmann — but Cleveland’s police union immediately appealed the decision and tried to get him reinstated.

And an arbitrator recently ruled against Loehmann and the police union’s attempt to get him back on Cleveland’s police force. That would usually be the end of it — but the police union is still fighting to make Loehmann a police officer again.

Timothy Loehmann should never have been hired, and he definitely shouldn’t be given a second chance. He’s unstable, dishonest, dangerous, and he’s already killed unjustly and recklessly.

Far too often, police unions succeed in quietly getting corrupt and dangerous officers back in their jobs after the public’s attention has moved on. We can stop that from happening — and make it less likely in the future — by publicly confronting the Cleveland Patrolman’s Association.