COLUMBUS, Ohio — On Monday, Subodh Chandra and the Chandra Law Firm LLC filed an amicus curiae brief on behalf of Samaria Rice, hoping to stop the Cleveland Police Patrolmen's Associations' (CPPA's) recent effort to reinstate former officer Timothy Loehmann.
Loehmann is the officer who fatally shot Samaria Rice's 12-year-old son, Tamir Rice, in November 2014. Tamir had been playing with a toy gun in a park near his home when the Cleveland Division of Police received a call about a "guy with a pistol" outside of a Cleveland recreation center. Rice had been playing with a pellet gun and officers said that they did not know that he was a juvenile and that he was playing with a toy before he was fatally shot twice.
"Timothy Loehmann can't be trusted. I hope that the Supreme Court does not give him a chance to get back his job," said Samaria in a statement. "The fact that the Cleveland police union is still trying to get him his job despite him killing my child and lying on his application to become a police officer shows you just how immoral that organization's leadership is."
The request to the Supreme Court comes after Loehmann filed an appeal with the Ohio Supreme Court to get his job back.
On Tuesday, Samaria Rice will go one-on-one with our Russ Mitchell. Stay with 3News throughout the day for coverage.
During What's Next at 11 p.m. on Monday, we heard a preview of that interview, including her thoughts on the CPPA appeal to the Ohio Supreme Court.
"Even if it's the union's (CPPA) money, why would you keep wasting your money on this bad officer? I don't think he should ever get a job in law enforcement again because he lied on his application," Rice told Mitchell. "So how can you trust him?"
When asked what she would say to Loehmann if she could talk to him, Rice replied, "I would let him know his career is over in law enforcement and he should find something else to do."
On Monday evening, Cleveland Police Patrolman's Association attorney Henry Hilow responded to the brief filed by Rice's attorneys. Hillow told 3News: "The issues raised in the amicus brief are not the issues being considered by the Supreme Court."
“Officer Loehmann shot 12‑year-old Tamir without waiting even a second to process the situation or consider the devastating consequences of his actions.” said Chandra in a statement sent to 3News, “His sense of entitlement after not just killing a child but lying to become a police officer should not be rewarded. He was, and remains, unfit to serve as a police officer, in Cleveland—or anywhere else.”
Earlier this month, U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown, and House members Tim Ryan, Joyce Beatty and Marcy Kaptur asked the U.S. Department of Justice to re-open the investigation into Tamir Rice's death, which had been initially opened by the Justice Department under the Obama administration, but abruptly closed during the final weeks of the Trump administration.
Editor's note: The video in the player below is from a story published on Dec. 29, 2020.