CLEVELAND, Ohio — Cleveland police union officials on Wednesday vowed to keep fighting the firing of Timothy Loehmann, the former Cleveland police officer who shot and killed 12-year-old Tamir Rice.
The announcement came at a press conference held house after an arbitrator ruling that upheld Loehmann’s firing was released to the public.
Cleveland Police Patrolmen’s Association President Jeff Follmer said the union will appeal the arbitrator’s decision that Cleveland was justified in firing Loehmann, who was fired not for the shooting but for lying several times on his police application.
CPPA attorney Henry Hilow said they will focus their appeal on what they believe are inconsistencies in the ruling and that the arbitrator’s decision was affected by public pressure outside the facts of the case.
“Voltaire said law is common sense,” Hilow said. “What’s missing here is common sense.”
The arbitrator, James Rimmel, ruled that Loehmann purposefully withheld information on his Cleveland police application about the circumstances around his departure from Independence police.
Loehmann was allowed to resign from the Independence department after six months following a series of incidents where supervisors determined he was unfit to be a police officer.
The disciplinary letter cites a letter in Loehmann's personnel file from Independence that says he was emotionally immature and had "an inability to emotionally function." The letter also cites an emotional breakdown Loehmann had on the gun range in Independence.
An appeal to an arbitrator’s decision is rare, except when it involves the firing or permanent termination of employment, CPPA attorney Marisa Serrat said. She said the Cleveland has recently appealed two arbitration decisions that re-established an officer’s employment and is awaiting the city’s decision on whether or not they will appeal a recent arbitrator’s decision to re-instate officer Alan Buford, who fatally shot an unarmed burglary suspect in 2015.
The appeal must be filed in the Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas within 90 days. Serrat said she expects the appeal to be filed in less time than that.
Hilow said the arbitrator’s ruling is inconsistent because the arbitrator both dismissed and sustained separate arguments about if Loehmann lied on his application.
“Hopefully we can find a judge who can read things, look through all the information and get to the facts of this case,” Follmer said.
Follmer and Hilow both continued their arguments that the city looked for any way to fire Loehmann after the shooting.
When five investigations, including a Cuyahoga County grand jury, found no wrongdoing by Loehmann, the city turned to his application as a reason for firing him, Follmer said. At one point during Wednesday’s news conference, Follmer called the decision “bulls—t.”
“He contradicts himself all over this decision,” Follmer said.