WKYC’s Russ Mitchell sat down with Police Union President Steve Loomis and former Ohio state senator Nina Turner Monday in the aftermath of Tim McGinty’s announcement that officers Timothy Loehmann and Frank Garmback would not be indicted in the shooting death of Tamir Rice.
Watch above as conflicting interpretations of the shooting come face to face.
Loomis suggests that if young African-American males comply with police officers’ orders, “on my kids’ lives, you will not get hurt if you do what a police officer tells you to do.”
Turner responds incredulously. “What about Laquan McDonald in Chicago?” she asks. “What about Tamir Rice, who wasn’t given time to comply with officers’ orders before he was gunned down at Cudell?”
It’s obvious that the Tamir issue has been a polarizing one — cleveland.com was forced to disable comments on Tamir Rice stories due to the racist vitriol that the coverage inspired — and even among officials and spokespeople, disagreement persists about basic facts.
Hats off to Mitchell and WKYC, by the way, who covered Monday afternoon’s development’s with an even hand.
This article appears in Dec 23-29, 2015.
Steve Loomis is a real piece of shit. No wonder people hate cops so much.
Rather than regurgitate the “facts”, why not offer some protocol improvements in how police respond to such calls. Where is the discussion about where that training officer drove up on the scene? He put himself and his trainee in danger if Tamir had actually been a threat and that needs to seriously be addressed. What changes are being made regarding dispatch communications to officers who are on the way to such a call?
We need some grown-up solutions here rather than spouting flippant comments.
Something truly sad and serious happened, we can all agree on that. So, tell us how, what and where is the CPD improving their processes to prevent the potential for another horrendous outcome?
Comply to being murdered by police. Don’t worry about your rights , you don’t have those. They control and own you, and nothing you say or do matters at all. Police are god and the own our souls, thank you so much Cleveland Police! Thank you for killing someone else, gee i sure how they just keep murdering people and all the racists can come out from hiding and goosestep to the tune of OBEY OBEY OBEY.
Oh wait, isn’t OHIO AN OPEN CARRY STATE………hmmmmm. doesn’t that mean even if that 12 yr old kid was an adult, they could have BEEN LEGALLY ALLOWED TO CARRY A FIREARM…… hmmmmm weird isn’t it. Oh wait, if he was an adult he could have had CONCEALED CARRY……. hmmm weird world huh.
Oh well, bow down to the cops, they always win. Ya know, there was something kidna like that in american history……… hmmmm ……….
This man IS what is wrong with today’s Police Department. I believe that 98% of the police do their jobs as they should and will never make the slightest ripple on the news but that other 2% who are there for no other reason than their own warped agenda have been given carte blanche to do whatever the hell they want with absolutely no concern over responsibility or repercussions.
The comments from Display Name, though, rough and emotional are uninformed. First of all the Open Carry laws would not allow a person to wave around a gun and point it at people as Tamir was doing. That person would have met the same result, if they had acted the same as Tamir.In hindsight, we know he was a young boy, yes we know it was a toy, and he was probably frightened when the police pulled up on him. That is why he went to pull the gun from his waistband, to show it was not real. Unfortunately, none of this was known to the policemen arriving on the scene. Many things went wrong. But the one thing that would have changed the outcome of this, was Tamir pointing a very real looking gun at people. If that doesn’t happen, he’s still alive.
These comments are incredibly ignorant. Loomis is stating that almost always, tragedies between cops and suspects occur when the suspect fails to comply with legitimate requests by the officer. We shouldn’t blur the lines. Officers are our last line of defense, they must be strong and respected. However, due to this massive responsibility, we must hold them accountable. Blamimg them for killing thugs trying to kill them, or for the heartbreaking death of Rice, who appeared to be wielding a firearm, is absurd.
It is Never okay to take a human life (it’s even a commandment if you’re into that). Police work doesn’t even rank in the top 15 dangerous job fields in this country… it ranks behind landscapers. So this narrative of dangerous thugs and crazed drug addicts needs to go. The most dangerous thing is the ease and availability of firearms. While I support every officers right to safety, lethal force should be such a last resort it almost isn’t thought about.
This isn’t just blaming the officers… there were failures at almost every level from the moment the call came in. The information was bad and the way the Tamir was approached and was addressed was bad.
Put this on top of the rash of unarmed, shot in the back, killed while restrained incidents that have occurred as of late and you see why people are upset. As Don stated above, this is a minority that is making the majority look bad. However, we as a city (and as a nation) need to see these “mistakes” being addressed and dealt with. Loomis (and Mayor Jackson) are just shrugging and saying “what are you going to do” in the face of all this.
It’s time we hold officers to the higher standard they deserve and stop allowing the judicial and political cronyism that keeps these things the same. Minorities and the poor should be able to stop fearing the police and look to them as servants of the community.
Frolicking in the park, Steve? He really believes that Tamir deseved to die. Caustic remarks blaming the victim isn’t solving the problem of police brutality, it is perpetuating it. Loomis might be well served to read studies that show people overestimate the ages of black children over the age of 10 which in turn make them appear less innocent or trustworthy. See websit vocativ for more info. By continuing to cite Tamir’s height and weight, his bias toward black children is glaringly obvious. This bias is a serious problem that needs to be overcome. My only hope is other officers don’t share Loomis’ view. All of Cleveland’s children need protection from police not just the one’s that meet Steve Loomis’ approval.
People believe racism is dead, but as I look at these FB post in the aftermath of the Tamir Rice verdict I can’t help to believe it’s not. I understand that in my community Black on Black crime is an issue, but it’s the same as White on White crime, Hispanic on Hispanic crime and Asian on Asian crime. The fact is if you look at ANY cop movies and they show the way they are trained on a shooting range they are taught to make split second decisions and unless they get 100% (NO MISTAKES) they don’t become an officer, yet in EVERY accidental deadly shooting they’ve NEVER shot any othe race than black. People posting cowardly post about a 12 year old child and his mother/father that were convicted by a felony, I’m a felon, I have 4 children and 2 grandchildren, do my children deserve less of a chance because I made a mistake in life? In southern Ohio I’ve seen white men teach their 3 year old sons how to HUNT outside of hunting season in front of state troopers and no arrest were made, no accidental shootings, no permit needed and no charges filed. Tamir deserved a day in court and a chance to live another day, just like the Dylann Roof a white man (the media called a teenager) that shot up a church of black people in South Carolina got, just like Dzhokhar Tsarnaev the Boston bomber got, just like like Thomas “t.J.” Lane that shot up Chardon High School (which to this day has NO metal detectors in the school) and like every other white MALE that has shot up a school (a practice started by Michael Carneal in 1997), bomb a facility (remember Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh?) or movie theater. Fact is if any of them had been black in any of those situations he’d be dead and statistics support this. I didn’t know Tamir but I attended his funeral because that could have been 1 of my children and although I’ve never met either of his parents or family members I feel their pain. GOD teaches compassion and forgiveness but I see these fake “christian” white people with a slave owner mentality, being internet gangsters showing us their godly devilish ways here on these posts. Some things NEVER change in their version of AmeiKKKa. I believe that the ONLY way for MY community to change this is for BLACK AMERICA to unite in a positive way, stop killing each other and VOTE!!!! This is OUR chance to CHANGE OUR community.
*All of Steve Loomis’ kids drop dead from the lie.
It sucks that Tamir died. He’s not some little innocent kid though. Get real. The black community venerates anyone they can. They even said the kid from Bedford that killed the Twinsburg cop was a good kid. Police are far more likely to be killed by blacks than whites so it makes sense they would be a bit apprehensive. That’s just common sense. It is sad that this is the #1 issue in the black community while 90% of blacks are killed by other blacks. 9-year old kid slaughtered in Chicago in gang war. This kid actually was innocent. But they don’t like to indict their own kind. But they’re not racist though. It just can never be the black person’s fault in any case. It ‘s always the white cop’s fault. The black community needs to start owning up to the senseless violence and stand against it. Spending all of this energy on a minute amount of cases (white cops killing blacks) is futile. These situations probably wouldn’t be happening in the first place of the communities weren’t so violent.
It’s sad most Scene readers can’t use logic and believe stupid media interpretations intended to appeal to emotions rather than looking at facts.
fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/leoka/2013/offic…
https://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/crim…
Brian Wilson,
Why don’t you think Tamir was an innocent kid? Did you know him personally? Was he ever convicted of a crime? Not sure why you feel the need to blame the victim in this case. It’s true that 90% of blacks are killed by other blacks. But it is also true that 90% of whites are killed by other whites. No sure why you are trying to indict the whole black community. Police are far more likely to be killed by blacks that whites? Really? Please cite your source. To my knowledge no comprehensive data is kept on police killings. Could this just be your hatred of black people that led to this assumption., Both the 9 year old in Chicago and Tamir were innocent. The reason there were no protests in the killling of the 9year old was simple. When his killer was found, he was indicted and will be prosecuted. That didn’t happen in Tamir’s case.
Dislike_Racist_Posters,
Unfortunately, you’re spewing racist lies and nonsense. Although it is shocking you’re surprised, I did site my source. It’s called the Federal Bureau of Investigation. I’m glad you did your research, especially when I provided it at the bottom of my post. Believe it or not, the FBI does keep stats on cop killers. Let me highlight it for you:
“In 2013, 28 alleged offenders were identified in connection with the 27 law enforcement officers feloniously killed. Of those offenders, the following characteristics are known:
15 of the alleged offenders were white, 11 were black, and race was not reported for 2 offenders.”
So we know that 40% of cops that were killed were killed by black people. However, blacks are just 13% of the population. Can you understand math like that? It means a black person is 4-5 times more likely to kill a cop than a white person. Blacks are wiping out more than their fair share of cops (regardless of the cop’s race).
You’re also wrong about whites killing whites. It’s actually 83% of whites that are killed by whites. I agree it’s still a high number, but there are more blacks killing whites than vise versa.
If you really think there would have been protests about the kid in Chicago you are being disingenuous. There are only protests about white cops killing. Based on the facts, it was found that the cops believed Tamir had a gun. It’s also true that blacks venerate the person every time saying how great of a person they are. Like in the example of the cop killer from Twinsburg, Art McCoy actually had an entire show of “Black on Black Crime” on WTAM devoted to talking about how great of a kid he was. The media bias is pretty obvious. They only show pictures of the Tamir, Trayvon, etc. that portray them as sweet, innocent, little kids. They find the cutest youngest photo they can get. If you do a quick Google you can easily find photos of Tamir flashing gang symbols. I don’t know him personally, but I’m sure he’s not as innocent as he is being portrayed. What kid really is? Besides, I don’t know any kids that go to public areas waving toy guns around. He also went out of his way to make it look more real. Justifying that behavior is ridiculous. You really think he was playing a silly game with the gun or trying to scare people? He scared people. That’s why the police were called.
I’m not racist. I just look at facts. You are racist because you deny them. The white community is falling apart too, just in a different way. Lots of family dysfunction/domestic violence, etc. I dislike disingenuous, illogical, dishonest, racist posters like yourself.
Obviously you are not versed in statistics. I saw your link. Only 39 observations is not enough to make any credible conclusion. Every well-trained statistician knows that.
Was the CT woman who pointed a bb gun at officers in front of a police station playing a silly game. Or the militants at the Bundy ranch who pointed assault rifles at federal agents? Or the Michigan man scaring motorists with a loaded assault rifle who wouldn’t unholster his weapon when police responded? And yet they all lived. What is the common thread? They’re all white. While Tamir Rice, Laquan McDonald, John Crawford III, Rekei Boyd, etc, etc, etc all died.
Actually 86% is closer to the actual white on white homicide rate than 83%. You are assuming that none on the members listed as “race unknown” are white. That’s not a sound assumption.
Jello Biafra and the Dead Kennedys summed it up with “Police Truck”: The left newspapers might whine a bit / But the guys at the station, they don’t give a shit / Dispatch calls, “Are you doing something wicked?” / No siree, Jack, we’re just giving tickets.
give e’m hell Nena! all i got to say!
Brian Wilson,
You are a racist.. through and through. You will NEVER understand that and you certainly don’t want to. You will always find some distorted way to justify your fear and surround yourself with others who agree in your echo chamber of ignorance. This goes beyond Tamir… you are a symptom of the problems of our country.This isn’t about statistics on minorities… it’s about human beings. You don’t seek to resolve or understand… you just blame. You fear change and you fear what you don’t understand. I truly pity you.
Take some time to talk to the communities and people who deal with these issues everyday. Instead of calling them “blacks” maybe learn their names. Even if it’s your upbringing or your social circle… you don’t have to be a racist. While I’m sure these words will fall on deaf ears I just had to say it doesn’t have to be this way. Try to remember it’s not “us” and “them”… it’s just us.
Steve Loomis is the biggest piece of shit ever. The fucker has been a bigot since back in the 90s when he worked security down on west 6th
The piece of shit was waving a gun in the park of a Rec. Center. He was told to raise his hands and disobeyed a lawful order and reached for his waistband where the gun was at. End of story !!!!! He put himself in that position, no one else did !!! And why not show an actual picture of Tamir? Nor the one where “he’s such an adorable little boy”, but the one of him that is 5’9″ and 180# or the one of him holding two guns on his mother’s Facebook account. Oh, how that suddenly disappeared.