A now-deleted Facebook post by Council President Steve Hazlett confirmed that former Cleveland police officer Timothy Loehmann was sworn in by Tioga Borough on Tuesday. Mayor David Wilcox is pictured on the left. Loehmann shot and killed 12-year-old Tamir Rice in 2014.
Steve Hazlett / Facebook
Steve Hazlett / Facebook
A now-deleted Facebook post by Council President Steve Hazlett confirmed that former Cleveland police officer Timothy Loehmann was sworn in by Tioga Borough on Tuesday. Mayor David Wilcox is pictured on the left. Loehmann shot and killed 12-year-old Tamir Rice in 2014.
The former Cleveland police officer who killed 12-year-old Tamir Rice in a public park was sworn in as Tioga Borough’s sole police officer on July 5. By midday Thursday, Timothy Loehmann had withdrawn his application due to public pressure.
A former Cleveland, Ohio police officer who shot and killed 12-year-old Tamir Rice in 2014 was almost hired by Tioga Borough.
The borough swore in Timothy Loehmann as its sole police officer on July 5th.
Loehmann shot Rice, a Black youth, when responding to a call at a public park with another officer. Rice’s killing came three months after Michael Brown was killed by police in Ferguson, Missouri and sparked nationwide protests.
Borough Council President Steve Hazlett shared a photo on Facebook of Loehmann being sworn in by Mayor David Wilcox on Tuesday night, writing, “Timothy Loehmann is your new Tioga police officer.”
After word spread on social media, protesters gathered outside of the Tioga Borough building on Wednesday evening to express outrage over Loehmann’s hiring.
Reporter Garrett Carr and videographer Dave Kennedy traveled to Tioga to cover the demonstration for the Williamsport Sun-Gazette.
“About 50 people showed up, which when you consider it’s a town of 700, that’s actually quite a big turnout,” Carr said. “It wasn’t a Republican versus Democrat issue. The message I got was, nobody wants Timothy Loehmann working in their community.”
Carr said Tioga Borough hasn’t had a police officer for the last 18 months.
By midday Thursday, local outlets including the Williamsport Sun-Gazette reported that Loehmann had withdrawn his application due to public pressure.
Many questioned the borough’s hiring process and the council’s awareness of Loehmann’s background.
One Facebook user shared a 2015 screenshot of one of Hazlett’s Facebook posts. On a link to a far-right website article about Rice’s killing, Hazlett’s writes, “Dumb enough to pull a fake gun, dumb enough to get shot.”
Steve Hazlett
A Facebook user shared a 2015 post from Borough Council President Hazlett. The commentary refers to a far-right website’s article about Rice’s November 2014 killing by Loehmann.
On Thursday morning, Tioga Borough Mayor David Wilcox shared a 77-second video of a recent Borough Council meeting on Facebook. In the video, one council member recommended that the council consider “Timothy Lochmann” as their new officer. That member spelled and pronounced Loehmann’s name incorrectly.
Wilcox said in a post that accompanied the video that he did not learn of Loehmann’s true identity until after Hazlett announced the officer’s hiring on social media.
Before working in Cleveland, Loehmann had previously worked for the police department in Independence, Ohio before being asked to resign. His personnel records, previously obtained by Northeast Ohio Media Group after a public records request in 2014, show Loehmann’s former supervisors were concerned with his demeanor and deemed him unfit for duty.
According to U.S. Census data, Tioga County, which borders New York, has roughly 41,000 residents and 96% of them identify as White. Data from 2010 shows that Tioga Borough had 666 residents.
Tioga is the fourth largest county, but has one of the smallest population densities in Pennsylvania.
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