SLATIFORK, W.Va. (AP) — A former Cleveland officer who fatally shot 12-year-old Tamir Rice in 2014 has been fired from his post as a ranger in a West Virginia resort community, the fourth known time in seven years that he has left the small department due to public backlash.
Timothy Lehmann was fired Friday from his position with the Snowshoe Resort Community District. The county board announced Lehman's firing in a statement after an emergency meeting.
Subodh Chandra, a Cleveland-based lawyer for the Rice family, said Lohman's “determination to harm other people appears pathological. So does the cowardly and poor judgment required by any government officials who employ him.”
Rice, who was Black, was playing with a shotgun outside a Cleveland recreation center on Nov. 22, 2014, when he was shot by Lehmann moments after the officer and his partner arrived. White officers told investigators that Lehmann yelled at Rice three times to put his hands up.
The shooting sparked an outcry over police treatment of black people and systemic racism, especially after a grand jury decided not to indict Lehmann or his partner.
Cleveland settled the lawsuit over Rice's death for $6 million. The city fired Lehman because he lied when applying for a police job.
Lehmann accepted a part-time position with a police department in southeast Ohio in 2018. He withdrew his application days later after Rice's mother and others criticized the hiring.
He was sworn in as Tioga, Pennsylvania's only police officer in 2022 and also left amid backlash following his hiring.
Last year, he retired from his position as a probationary officer in White Sulfur Springs City, West Virginia, and the police chief responsible for hiring him resigned.
