Ohio police union appeals firing of ex-officer who fatally shot Tamir Rice

A police union has filed an appeal with the Ohio Supreme Court to reinstate former Cleveland Police Officer Timothy Loehmann, who fatally shot 12-year-old Tamir Rice outside a recreation center in 2014 when he mistook a toy pistol for a real firearm, according to court documents.

The Cleveland Police Patrolmen’s Association (CPPA) filed the appeal Friday. Loehmann was fired in May 2017 after an internal review panel investigating the Tamir Rice shooting found he lied or omitted crucial information in his application’s personal history statement.

Loehmann applied to join Cleveland’s police force in 2013 after resigning from the police department in the suburb of Independence, and after failing a written exam while applying for a job with police in Maple Heights. One omission was that his former job would’ve fired him had he not resigned, and another was his former employer said he was emotionally immature.

In March, the Eighth District Court of Appeals refused to hear arguments in the case appeal citing CPPA’s failure to serve notice to outside attorneys hired by the city, according to court documents.

Loehmann has not been charged in Tamir’s death. Former Attorney General William Barr announced in December that the Justice Department would not pursue criminal charges in Tamir’s death, saying there was not enough conclusive evidence against the police officers.

Tamir’s family sent a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland on April 16 asking him to reopen the investigation into the boy’s 2014 shooting death and to convene a grand jury to consider charges against the Cleveland police officers who killed him.

In 2018, Loehmann applied, was hired and withdrew his application to the police department in Bellaire in eastern Ohio. There was intense reaction from the community including the police department receiving 200 phone calls in the span of four hours.

CNN has reached out to CPPA but has not yet heard back.