The cop who killed 12-year-old Tamir Rice won't be getting his job back

The Cleveland police officer who was fired after fatally shooting 12-year-old Tamir Rice isn’t getting his job back — but it has nothing to do with the 2014 killing, for which he was never indicted. Rather, Officer Timothy Loehmann was fired in May 2017 for lying on his 2013 job application, and an arbitrator found Wednesday that’s reason enough to keep him out of the Cleveland Police Department, according to Cleveland.com. Loehmann was with the department for less than eight months before he shot Rice. Earlier this year, Loehmann entered the necessary arbitration proceedings to get his job back via a third-party review of his firing. The city has said it didn’t realize the mistake on his application: He didn’t disclose that he was let go from another, smaller police department due to emotionally unstable behavior. Loehmann, who has been the subject of nationwide protest, thought Rice was an 18-year-old playing with a gun in a Cleveland park when he shot and killed him in 2014. He and his partner, Frank Garmback, went to the park in response to a 911 call, but the 911 dispatcher hadn’t informed officers that the caller noted the gun was “probably fake,” and a toy. Within seconds of the officers arriving, Loehmann jumped out of the squad car and shot Rice, instantly killing him. Both officers were cleared of any wrongdoing, and the city, which never admitted to any wrongdoing, avoided a lawsuit by paying out $6 million to Rice’s family.

The shooting sparked national outrage and has kept Loehmann from working at other Ohio police departments. In October, was hired by the Bellaire Police Department in the southern part of the state, although he withdrew his application after local and national pushback.

Additionally, prior to his hiring in Cleveland, Loehmann failed a portion of a test to become a Cuyahoga County sheriff’s deputy and failed yet another test for a position with police in Maple Heights, according to Cleveland.com.

Cover image: Tomiko Shine holds up a poster of Tamir Rice during a protest in Washington. AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana, File)