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Hearings begin on Officer Timothy Loehmann's future with Cleveland Police Department

The officer who shot and killed Tamir Rice more than three years ago looks to return to the Cleveland Police Department after allegedly lying in his application paperwork.

Cleveland Police Officer Timothy Loehmann made headlines when he shot and killed Tamir Rice, an unarmed Cleveland teen, in November 2014.

This week, arbitration hearings are underway to see whether Loehmann should keep his job.

They began Wednesday morning behind closed doors at Burke Lakefront Airport.

Loehmann and his attorney declined to comment while Jeff Follmer, the head of the Cleveland Police Patrolmen’s Association, called it “politics.”

In 2014 Loehmann and his partner, Officer Frank Garmback, were responding to reports of an 18-year old pointing a gun at Cudell Recreation Center on Cleveland’s west side.

Loehmann fired deadly shots two seconds after getting out of their cruiser.

The victim, Tamir Rice, was 12-years-old and holding a realistic-looking pellet gun. Loehmann said he believed the teen was a threat.

There was no indictment and a grand jury decided against criminal charges, however, the City of Cleveland paid $6 million to settle a lawsuit with the Rice family.

Loehmann was then later terminated for allegedly lying on his 2013 police application by leaving out key information.

“Those allegations are false,” CPPA President Jeff Follmer said Wednesday. “He didn’t falsify anything. He filled out the applications to the best of his knowledge and this all comes back to the use of force which has nothing to do with this arbitration whatsoever.”

Yet through its investigation, the Cleveland Police Department did learn that Loehmann’s previous police supervisors in Independence had wanted him fried, citing insubordination, lying, and an “inability to emotionally function.”

He allegedly resigned to avoid termination.

Members of the Independence Police Department could be seeing going into Wednesday’s hearings.

The hearings are expected to last the remainder of the week with a final decision expected within the next few months.

Last month, Officer Frank Garmback attended a similar hearing to contest a suspension over his tactical approach during the Rice shooting. No decision has been reached.

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