Introduction
The incompetence of law enforcement and a culture of protection when rogue cops go wild has been widely exposed in 2020 with the deaths of Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, and others. The absurdity of severe incompetence, inappropriate training, and lack of weapons discipline led to Breonna’s premature and unnecessary death. A rogue cop following his sociopathic impulses and breaking law enforcement protocol and procedures was responsible for George Floyd’s death.
The death of 12-year-old Tamir Rice at the hands of The Cleveland Police Department encompasses all of the failed characteristics of the deaths of both Breonna Taylor and George Floyd:
- Severe mistakes
- Inappropriate training
- Breach of protocol and procedures
- Lack of weapons discipline
- Rogue cops
- Sociopathic impulses
After 6 years of investigating, federal investigators announced yesterday that they would not be pursuing charges in the Tamir Rice shooting.
The final determination of the investigators upheld the “Reaching for His Waistband Doctrine”, which is a variant of the ”In Fear for My Life Doctrine”. These doctrines are the go-to excuses for law enforcement whenever an unarmed victim is killed by the police. If there is any case in which these excuses should have been disregarded, it is the Tamir Rice Case. Why should they be disregarded? Because both officers involved have a history of lying and being untrustworthy.
Summary of Events
Primary Actors:
- Tamir Rice — unarmed 12-year-old victim of an excessive use of force shooting by law enforcement officer; by all accounts a nice kid, and not a “trouble maker”.
- Cleveland PD Officer Frank Garmback — the driver; a rogue cop responsible for a $100,000 settlement for a previous "excessive use of force lawsuit" filed against the Cleveland PD.
- Cleveland PD Officer Timothy Loehmann — the shooter; a rogue cop with a severely checkered law enforcement background.
- Cleveland 911 Dispatcher — dispatcher who miscommunicated the content of the call, setting up a situation handled improperly by everyone.
- Prosecutor Timothy McGinty — prosecutor during the Grand Jury hearing.
Sequence of Events:
- In November 2014, Tamir Rice was playing in a park with a realistic-looking Airsoft gun.
- A person in the park made a 911 call and told the dispatcher it was “probably a juvenile” and the gun was “probably fake”.
- The Dispatcher dispatched Garmaback and Loehmann to the call, but critically neglected to forward the information that it was “probably a juvenile” and that the gun was “probably fake”.
- Garmback drove the car up “hot”, jumped the curb, and then continued foreword, almost hitting Rice, — maneuvers and tactics that substantially violated PD training and policies.
- In less than two seconds, Loehmann jumped out of the car and shot Tamir Rice.
- Garmbach and Loehmann both claim that they repeatedly told him to show his hands.
Consequences:
- Tamir Rice died as a result of being shot and killed by Timothy Loehmann.
- The Dispatcher received an 8-day suspension for miscommunicating the most important specifics of the call.
- Garmbach received a 10-day suspension reduced to 5 days for violating tactical rules the way he drove up hot right in front of Tamir.
- Loehmann was fired, but not for anything having to do with Tamir’s death. Loehmann was fired for lying on his job application.
- In 2015 a private grand-jury decided not to indict Loehmann and Garmback on criminal charges.
- In 2016, The City of Cleveland paid a $6 million settlement for a subsequent wrongful death lawsuit.
- In December 2020, The Federal Investigation into the violation of Tamir Rice’s civil rights was closed.
The Backstory That Should Have Demanded Prosecution
There is no question that the Dispatcher’s miscommunication set the stage by not telling the officers that Tamir was a juvenile and he was playing with a fake gun. However, the incompetent and rogue actions of Garmbach and Loehmann are entirely responsible for Tamir’s demise which followed. Especially when you look at the Garmbach’s and Loehmann’s improper behavior and lack of character as law enforcement officers.
Officer Garmbach (driver) had a history of excessive use of force.
Frank Garmback had been on the force since 2008. Months earlier than the shooting in 2014, he was involved in an "excessive use of force” incident which cost the Cleveland police department $100K. A woman had called the cops because a car was blocking her driveway.
For some reason, Garmbach put her in a chokehold, dragged her to the ground, and punched her. The woman filed a lawsuit and won a $100K settlement. It is typical for law enforcement to protect their own, even the bad guys — the court finding does not appear in Garmback's personnel file.
Officer Loehmann (shooter) quit before being fired from a previous law enforcement job as a recruit/trainee.
For five months Timothy Loehmann was employed by the Independence Ohio PD. For four of those five months, he was a recruit attending the Police Academy. Prior to joining the Police Academy, Loehmann was unemployed for five years.
Training Supervisors at Independence PD described Loehmann as an emotionally unstable recruit with a "lack of maturity" and "inability to perform basic functions as instructed" during a weapons training exercise.
Deputy Chief Polak Describes Loehmann’s bizarre behavior and his unfitness to work in law enforcement. Sourced from a memo in Loehmann’s file.
“During a state range qualification course, Ptl Loehmann was distracted and weepy,” Polak wrote, naming the trainer as Sgt Tinnirello. “[Loehmann] could not follow simple directions, could not communicate clear thoughts nor recollections, and his handgun performance was dismal. Sgt Tinnirello tried to work through this with Ptl Loehmann by giving him some time. But, after some talking it was clear to Sgt Tinnirello that the recruit was just not mentally prepared to be doing firearm training ...
“Ptl Loehmann continued with his emotional meltdown to a point where Sgt Tinnirello could not take him into the store, so they went to get something to eat and he continued to try and calm Ptl Loehmann. Sgt Tinnirello describes the recruit as being very downtrodden, melancholy with some light crying. Sgt Tinnirello later found this emotional perplexity was due to a personal issue with Ptl Loehmann’s on and off again girlfriend whom he was dealing with till 0400 hrs the night before. (Pti Loehmann was scheduled for 0800 the morning in question).”
Some of the comments made by Ptl Loehmann during this discourse were to the effect of, “I should have gone to NY”, “maybe I should quit”, “I have no friends”, “I only hang out with 73-year-old priests”, “I have cried every day for four months about this girl.”
“Due to this dangerous loss of composure during live range training and his inability to manage this personal stress, I do not believe Ptl Loehmann shows the maturity needed to work in our employment,” Polak concludes. “For these reasons, I am recommending he be released from the employment of the city of Independence. I do not believe time, nor training, will be able to change or correct these deficiencies.”
Loehmann quit in December 2013 to avoid being fired.
Cleveland PD hired Officer Lohmann without even contacting The Independence PD.
Cleveland PD hired Loehmann three months after he quit the Independence PD. Loehmann told them he left the Independence PD for personal reasons. They never contacted the Independence PD as part of his background check. They never saw that Loehmann “lacked maturity” and the reports of his “inability to perform basic functions as instructed” during weapons training exercises. They didn’t know that Loehmann was about to be fired before he quit.
The Grand Jury hearing was a foregone conclusion and a sham.
Cleveland PD said Loehmann and partner Garmback violated several Department procedures when they drove up hot on 12-year-old Tamir Rice nearly hitting him with the car. Within two seconds Loehmann exited the vehicle and shot Tamir Rice from 5-7 feet away. While Tamir lay dying, neither officer offered first aid. Several minutes afterward.:
An FBI agent trained as a paramedic heard about the shooting on a radio and headed to the scene. The agent, whose name is redacted in the report, told investigators he performed some basic first aid on Tamir, who was still alive and responsive though his wound exposed some intestines.
Both Loehmann and Garmback testified that they continuously yelled "show me your hands". Several witnesses who weren't very close said they never saw or heard the officers say anything.
A secret Grand Jury declined to file charges.
Three expert witnesses testified before the Grand Jury, two of them with law enforcement backgrounds. All three expert witnesses had the same impression that County Prosecutor McGinty was acting as a defense attorney for the officers instead of acting as a prosecutor.
Roger Clark, a retired LA Sheriff’s Department officer with expertise in police shootings.
Jeffrey Noble, a retired police officer, and a use-of-force expert who had himself used deadly force.
Jesse Wobrock, a biomechanics expert.
Each of them expressed their frustrations with Prosecutor McGinty:
Clark: “The facial expressions, the body language...disdain … Yeah, that’s a good word: disdain.” [explaining the prosecutors’ reactions for having to even investigate the shooting]
Noble: "I’ve definitely never seen two prosecutors play defense attorney so well."
Wobrock: "[Prosecutors] acting in a way like they were defense attorneys for the cops."
Aftermath
Garmback was suspended for 5 days for violating procedures but suffered no criminal consequences. He was originally supposed to get suspended for 10 days, but the penalty was reduced to 5 days by arbitration. Once again, law enforcement taking care of the bad cops.
Loehmann was kicked off the force for violating procedures but suffered no criminal consequences for bagging himself a 12-year-old Black child, who by all accounts was the model of a well-behaved kid. Afterward, he had applied to work for another Ohio Police Department, but after complaints and protests, he withdrew his application.
Tamir’s family filed a wrongful death lawsuit, and the City of Cleveland paid a $6M settlement.
The Feds opened a civil rights investigation, but after five years, they closed it this week with no consequences for Loehmann or Garmback.
Once again we have learned some hard lessons.
1) Police departments do not verify employment performance records from other departments adequately, 2) we do not test the mental stability of law enforcement officers as we should, 3) we have again allowed law enforcement to take an innocent life and blame it on fear for their lives, and, 4) the use of force protocols and rules of engagement must be changed so more innocent, young Americans aren’t killed by the police.