Ken Blaze/Reuters
Timothy Loehmann, the former Cleveland police officer who fatally shot 12-year-old Tamir Rice in November 2014, lost a challenge to his termination and will remain fired from the force. However, Loehmann was not fired as a result of the shooting, but for lying on his application to the Cleveland Police Department, Cleveland Police Patrolmens Association President Jeff Follmer said. Loehmann purportedly did not disclose on his paperwork that he was terminated from a previous short stint at another police department. Additionally, Loehmann omitted that he had suffered an emotional breakdown at a gun range, and that he was described as having “an inability to emotionally function” in his personnel file. Three officers in the department’s personnel unit—which is responsible for conducting background checks on potential hires—were also disciplined for failing to discover the reasons for his previous termination. Loehmann was working for the Cleveland PD for less than eight months when he shot and killed Rice.