A West Virginia police chief has resigned following criticism over his hiring of the former Cleveland police officer who fatally shot 12-year-old Tamir Rice in 2014.
DS Teubert has voluntarily resigned as chief of police of the White Sulphur Springs Police Department and demoted himself to patrol officer, Mayor Kathy Glover announced at a city council meeting Monday night.
White Sulphur Springs is located in southeastern West Virginia, approximately 370 miles from Cleveland. Its population is approximately 2,220.
Teubert and Glover have both been criticized for Teubert’s hiring of Timothy Loehmann, who fatally shot Tamir in Cleveland on Nov. 22, 2014, while responding to a call about someone pointing a gun at people. Loehmann He was not charged in the shooting and was fired from the Cleveland Police Department in 2017 for an unrelated matter. Glover announced Loehmann’s resignation from the White Sulphur Springs department last week after a public outcry. Neither Teubert nor Glover responded to repeated inquiries about his hiring date.
Glover previously told NBC News that Loehmann was hired at the request and recommendation of Teubert to work as a probationary and at-will police officer for the city and that he resigned July 1. It was the second time Loehmann had resigned from a police department since leaving Cleveland.
Deputy Chief Julian R. Byer Jr. was sworn in as the new White Sulphur Springs chief last Wednesday, Glover said.
In a statement read at the meeting Monday night, Glover said the police chief oversees the department’s hiring, firing and disciplinary actions.
“As mayor, I understand your outrage and your emotional investment in this whole situation,” she told a packed room of voters, according to video of the meeting posted online.
She said Loehmann’s name “did not come to mind” personally when he was hired, and that she “had confidence in the outcome of the many requirements” for the position “and in the due diligence of the department head in swearing him in.”
“When the previous incident came to light, we acted as calmly, quickly and professionally as possible to validate the accusations that were circulating on social media and from other sources,” Glover said.
She said she consulted with the city attorney to “review what little I knew” and that, at their recommendation, they met with Teubert on the morning of July 1, at which time she reviewed information in the police department’s personnel file about Loehmann. Later that day, she met with Loehmann, who resigned effective immediately, she said.
“Even though I was not aware of the hiring situation, I take responsibility for it as a city leader,” Glover said. “It should not have happened.”
She also pledged to change the city’s police hiring process.
“I acknowledge that there are errors in the current process and that these errors will be reviewed and corrected in the future,” Glover said. “I sincerely apologize to the Rice family for the unwanted and unnecessary attention this matter has brought to each of you.”
City Council member Ryan Lockhart proposed creating a public safety review board for the police department. He said he “feels it imperative” that the city “adapt and put something in place” to protect the community from what it just experienced.
“This should help to spare our citizens and our community the perils that we have all experienced in recent weeks with the case of Officer Loehmann,” he said. “This will help to prevent such a catastrophe from happening again.”
The review board would consist of three members who would act as a liaison between the City Council and the city on hiring and employment decisions and disciplinary actions for the police department, Lockhart said. He proposed that the three members be the sitting mayor, a City Council member and a citizen-at-large approved by the council. The board would have the authority to review and approve all police department hires, along with the chief, he said.
The city council unanimously approved his proposal.
Tamir was playing with a pellet gun outside a recreation center when Loehmann fatally shot him seconds after Loehmann and his then-partner, Frank Garmback, a veteran training officer, arrived. The caller told a 911 dispatcher that the caller was likely a juvenile and that the gun appeared to be fake, but that was never relayed to Loehmann and Garmback. Tamir was black. His killing sparked months of protests over the treatment of black people by police. In May 2017, about three years after killing Rice, Loehmann was fired by the Cleveland Police Department, which said his 2013 application contained inaccuracies.
Teubert, who did not respond to repeated requests for an interview or comment, defended his decision to hire Loehmann in an interview with Cleveland.com before their resignations. He told the outlet he spent a year conducting a background check and said he was surprised the hiring drew widespread attention.
“As a person, I looked at the whole situation,” Teubert said. “I did background research. I studied everything. It’s a sad situation. Does any police officer in the world have a chance of getting away with it when they’re involved in a shooting? Do they deserve to never work as a police officer again, or is it just this shooting?”
He also said he did not think Loehmann did anything wrong.
“What crime was he convicted of?” Teubert asked. “I just want everyone to be fair about this whole thing. If I thought he did anything illegal or wrong in any way, I wouldn’t have hired him.”
During the public comment portion of the City Council meeting, some residents expressed disappointment in Loehmann’s hiring and lack of confidence in Glover’s leadership.
Jerrell Newsome, 39, told Glover directly that it was unacceptable for her and Teubert to hire a man who took the life of a child and entrust him with a gun.
“You should resign from your position and let us elect a new mayor,” Newsome said.
His statement was greeted with loud applause.
Glover did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday on calls for his resignation.
Another resident, Sonia Brown, 67, praised Lockhart for proposing a new public safety board but expressed concerns about how Loehmann passed a background check.
“Somebody betrayed us,” Brown said. “It could have been very bad for our city.”
In an interview Wednesday, Brown called the hiring a “big mistake.”
“I don’t think they had the public’s best interests at heart when they hired him,” she said.
News Source : www.nbcnews.com
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