We've seen the video of Tamir Rice's shooting at the hands of a Cleveland Police Officer who should never have been issued a badge and a gun. Timothy Loehmann was an officer who never held a job that wasn't part-time and at minimum wage, who demonstrated that he didn't have the maturity to wield police power.
Yesterday, January 14, 2015, the Cleveland Police Department (CPD) provided its answers to the several questions the video recording of Tamir's shooting has raised with the public. Why did the officers pull up so quickly and so close to Tamir? Why did Officer Loehmann shoot Tamir in 1.5 to 2 seconds, without giving him time to react to police commands, if any commands were indeed given? Why did the officers take down Tamir's sister so roughly, handcuff her and callously place her in the back of the patrol car ten feet from her mortally wounded younger brother? Why did the CPD officers stand around indifferent to the gravely wounded child as he lay on the cold, wet ground? Why did the CPD hire Officer Loehmann when another local police department concluded that they had no choice but to dismiss him because he lacked the maturity for police work and he demonstrated poor judgment in choosing to disregard orders?
The Cleveland Police and Patrolmans Association, CPPA, is the union representing Cleveland Police Officers. CPPA President Steve Loomis provided answers to most of these questions yesterday afternoon on a Cleveland radio station. The CPPA decided to double down. According to Mr. Loomis, the shooting was justified as the officers feared for their lives. The hiring of Officer Loehmann was by the book and not only did he clear all background and employment checks, but he graduated from the Academy near the top of the class "with flying colors."
In addition to not giving an inch regarding any possible culpability in the shooting, the local and state police associations have begun a "I Stand With Cops" public relations campaign with a huge "Sea of Blue" rally in Cleveland's Public Square.
While all of this pushback by the Cleveland Police was disheartening, there was one bit of good news from a Federal Judge on Tuesday in a four year old case that may bode well for justice being served to Tamir Rice's family.
The answers to these questions provided by the CPPA can be found below the fold.
Background Information: Audio Source
First I'd like to provide some background for the source of this information. Cleveland has a colorful community activist by the name of Art McKoy, who also runs a community organization called Black On Black Crime Inc that he started over thirty years ago. McKoy is now 70 years old, give or take a year. From 2005 through 2011 he had a Sunday night talk show on WTAM 1100 AM, a 50,000 watt clear channel station that was owned by Clear Channel then and is now owned by I Heart Radio.
Yesterday he was an invited guest on the Mike Trivisonno (Triv) Show, airing weekdays from 3 PM to 6 PM on WTAM, to discuss the recent police shootings of unarmed black men in general and Tamir Rice in particular.
Shortly after McKoy arrived in the studio, the discussion turned to the Tamir Rice shooting. The host, called Triv, asked McKoy if he would talk with the President of the police union, the Cleveland Police and Patrolmans Association, CPPA, Steve Loomis if Triv could reach him by phone and McKoy agreed.
Steve Loomis is a brash, outspoken union man who held the job of President of CPPA from 2006 through 2011. Loomis was also a frequent and vocal critic of Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson. In November he won his job back, defeating the incumbent handily. Loomis took office on January 1st. He will play a key role in how this shooting is handled.
Eventually WTAM got Loomis on the phone and a dialogue between McKoy and Loomis was initiated. A link to the recording is provided at the end of this diary. The voices are clear so there is no mistaking what was said, but the discussion did become heated at times.
In any case, the installation of Loomis as president of the CPPA on January 1st guaranteed that the union would throw all of its weight behind the officers responsible for the shooting of Tamir Rice, Frank Garmback and Timothy Loehmann.
CPPA President Answers Shooting Questions
Why did the officers pull up so quickly and so close to Tamir?
According to Loomis this was a "gun run" meaning the officers were told by dispatch that they were to confront a suspect known to be armed with a gun. Supposedly, the officers observed Tamir get up from the seat at the table under the gazebo, put the gun in the waistband of his pants and begin walking out from under the gazebo. The purpose of the fast entry on the grass was to cut off Tamir so he wouldn't continue on and enter the community rec center with the gun. The officers, Loehmann and Garmback reasoned that Tamir would see them coming in fast and take off running into the field.
This link is to a Google Maps aerial view of the Cudell Recreation Center on the west side of Cleveland.
Google Maps aerial view of the Cudell Recreation Center
North is at the top of the image. The gazebo has a hexagon-shaped roof and it is located in the lower center of the image. The patrol car drove up next to the gazebo on the grass between the gazebo and the wood posts that separate the sidewalk from the grass. The patrol car stopped facing north with the gazebo on the passenger side and the sidewalk on the drivers side. Tamir was walking almost due west, toward the large parking lot on the left side of the image.
According to Loomis, Loehmann and Garmback reasoned that Tamir would see the police car and take off through the field that is in the upper right quadrant of the image. The goal was to keep Tamir, with the gun, from entering the rec center which is the building in the upper left quadrant of the image. Looking at the image it is possible to imagine that had Tamir taken off to the north and east as the officers had planned, they could have kept themselves and their car between Tamir and the rec center.
I am not a police officer and I haven't received any tactical training for approaching an armed suspect, but it seems to me that the officers would be at a distinct disadvantage by remaining in their patrol car if Tamir was armed with a real gun and intent on causing them harm.
From an officer safety perspective, wouldn't it have been prudent for the patrol car to stop in the paved parking lot west of the gazebo and confront Tamir from outside the patrol car while using the car as a shield? Of course, it was possible that a suspect with a real gun could have taken off east toward West 98th St. and escaped from the police. Perhaps the officers should have waited until they had another two-man team of officers on W 98th St. in the event that was what Tamir intended to do. In fact, even as they pulled up as they did it was possible that Tamir could have taken off in that direction and gotten away.
Why did Officer Loehmann shoot Tamir within 1.5 to 2 seconds, without giving him time to react to police commands, if any commands were indeed given?
On November 26th the first video was released. Police Chief Calvin Williams stated that Loehmann told Tamir to “drop your gun” three times. The Chief also stated that Loehmann shot Tamir within 1.5 to 2 seconds of the patrol car pulling up to the spot of the confrontation. Note that the police later changed the command that was issued by Loehmann three times to "put up your hands" once they could see from the video that Tamir wasn't holding a gun.
The police also stated 1) that Tamir had been sitting under the gazebo with a group of people and 2) that officers Garmback and Loehmann thought Tamir’s gun was real because the orange tip had been removed. Both of these statements made by the police were clearly not true.
Now, according to Loomis, Loehmann fired almost immediately, before he had established firm footing once he exited the car, because Garmback and Loehmann had seen Tamir put the gun inside the waistband of his pants. As Loehmann was exiting the car, Tamir began to withdraw the gun from his waistband. Thus Loehmann was in fear of his life so he fired his weapon and shot Tamir.
Here are the first and second videos released by the police. The first video, released November 26, is over 14 minutes in length and the shooting takes place at about the 7 minute mark. The second video, released January 8, is about 30 minutes in length and the shooting takes place almost immediately, at the 18 second mark, soon after Tamir gets up from his seat and heads west toward the parking lot and the police car.
1st video of Tamir shooting
2nd video Tamir shooting
I have looked at each video and I cannot see Tamir putting the toy gun inside his waistband in either video. It is easier to watch the second video since the footage of interest occurs immediately.
Why did the officers take down Tamir's sister so roughly, handcuff her and callously place her in the back of the patrol car ten feet from her mortally wounded younger brother?
According to Loomis, Loehmann and Garmback had no idea who Tamir's sister was as she approached and the officers had to restrain her to "control a chaotic scene." Once handcuffed there was nowhere to put her but inside the back of their patrol car.
But that may not be true since Tamir's sister is taken down by Garmback at the 1:45 mark and as Loehmann is struggling to put the handcuffs on her another police officer arrives from the left side of the frame at 1:54 and assists Loehmann in restraining her. Why wasn't she placed in that officer's patrol car?
Here are two more videos that were captured by Treyvon Osborn, believed to be a friend of Tamir's sister, with his phone. Both are short, less than two minutes, but they have audio and higher video resolution. You can hear Tamir's sister, Tajeh (spelling unclear), screaming for her brother as she runs toward him. In the first video, Osborn is reacting to the surreal scene and the camera does not remain fixed on the violence taking place in front of him and his friends. The second video was recorded later as the paramedics were tending to Tamir.
Treyvon Osborn video 1
Treyvon Osborn video 2
Why did the CPD officers stand around, indifferent to the gravely wounded child as he lay on the cold, wet ground?
According to Loomis, Cleveland police officers are not trained to administer first aid to shooting victims. He saw nothing untoward in their behavior as Tamir lay on the ground gravely wounded. This may have significant consequences for the City of Cleveland in a potential civil suit should the Rice family decide to sue in Federal District Court.
Why did the CPD hire Officer Loehmann when the Independence police department concluded that he was emotionally unstable and unfit for duty, and at least four other ?
In answering this question Loomis shows his nasty side and it puts the USDOJ on notice that Loomis will be taking the lead for the City of Cleveland in negotiating the terms of the forthcoming consent decree as well as the metrics used to measure progress towards the agreed-upon benchmarks.
Loomis dismissed any notion that Loehmann is a poor candidate for police work with the City of Cleveland. According to Loomis, Loehmann scored in the top 10% of his class from the Cleveland Heights Police Academy. However, the Northeast Ohio Media Group in an article dated January 7, 2015 wrote that Loehmann failed the written test to become a deputy with the Cuyahoga County Sheriff's Department, scoring only 46% when a score of 70% was required to pass the examTimothy Loehmann failed the Cuyahoga County Sheriff's Department's written entrance exam.
Further, Loomis stated that "small, independent police departments" such as the police department in Independence often target police recruits for political reasons when they don't fit in by making them a "target." Loomis insisted that Loehmann's employment with the Independence Police department was not about to be terminated when Loehmann resigned. According to Loomis, Loehmann had wanted to quit his position at Independence because he wanted to pursue opportunities with other police departments. In fact, Loomis stated that Loehmann took tests elsewhere because he wanted to leave.
One characteristic that Loomis is known for is his willingness to stick up for a member of the CPPA, regardless of what the evidence may show. Loomis is not shy about bending the truth or, if necessary, outright lying. The Independence Police Dept. wanted the truth about Loehmann to be known, so much so that once he was identified as the cop who shot and killed Tamir Rice, they released the information in his personnel file to the press on December 3, 2014.
Yesterday Loomis insisted that Loehmann was "highly qualified" for police work and that all background checks had been performed. When asked about the conflicting information from Independence, the Cuyahoga Sheriff's Dept. and other local police departments Loomis stated that he "trusts facts," and that an attorney speaking for the Rice family was an "ambulance chaser" and that "anything that comes out of his mouth is suspect to begin with."
Deliberate Indifference
In 2010 another black man died while in the custody of Cleveland police officers. Rodney Brown was pulled over for driving his car without having the headlights illuminated. His mother sued the City of Cleveland and numerous officers alleging that the Cleveland police officers used excessive force and they acted with deliberate indifference. The claim of deliberate indifference was added by the judge as the court may do "when justice so requires."
Senior Judge Lesley Wells issued her opinion and order for the United States District Court, Northern District of Ohio on Tuesday, January 13th. The motion to dismiss the claims on summary judgment was denied in part and granted in part. Federal Judge allows the "I can't breathe" suit to proceed
Wells wrote that there was enough evidence to proceed on several claims, including wrongful death, assault and battery and the use of excessive force. She also wrote the city and the officers are not immune from being held liable for damages in the case.
"There is evidence to show that Officer [Michael] Chapman delivered a blow to the back of Mr. Brown's neck with little or no provocation," Wells wrote. "Further, there is evidence to show that [officers] failed to act in spite of knowledge of the existence of a substantial risk of serious harm to Mr. Brown after he had been placed in the back of the police car."
The Cuyahoga County Coroner's Office ruled Brown's death a homicide due to "cardiopulmonary arrest following physical exertion during law enforcement activity."
Once Brown was cuffed and placed in the back of a Cleveland police patrol car he complained that "I can't breathe." One of the officers, Patrolman Erick Melendez, was captured on police radio responding, "So. Who gives a f*ck?" Brown subsequently died in the back seat of the patrol car.
Farmer v. Brennan (1994) was a case in which the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that a prison official's "deliberate indifference" to a substantial risk of serious harm to an inmate violates the cruel and unusual punishment clause of the Eighth Amendment. Since then the standard has been expanded to include police confinement or incapacitation.
The opinion can be downloaded here.
Audio Source: WTAM
One of Art McKoy's signature acts during his Sunday night radio show was to have a "Holy Ghost Party" on the air. The first part of the audio file is a shortened version of a Holy Ghost Party. The dialogue with Steve Loomis begins approximately 25 minutes into the recording. Art McKoy and Steve Loomis