West Virginia police chief responsible for hiring of officer who killed Tamir Rice steps down

WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS, W.Va. (AP) — A West Virginia police chief responsible for the hiring of a former Cleveland officer who fatally shot 12-year-old Tamir Rice in 2014 has stepped down.

White Sulphur Springs Police Chief D.S. Teubert returned to his former job as a patrolman, WVVA-TV reported. Mayor Kathy Glover said Teubert had recommended the hiring of Timothy Loehmann as a probationary officer.

Loehmann resigned from the White Sulphur Springs police force last week. It marked the third time in six years that Loehmann had left a small police department amid backlash shortly after he had been hired.

“I did not know who he was, and I did not have all of the information that should have been given,” Glover said at a town council meeting Monday night. “It was something we were unaware of and not prepared for all the way around.”

Glover said she also apologized to the family of Rice.

Rice, who was Black, was playing with a pellet gun outside a recreation center in Cleveland on Nov. 22, 2014, when he was shot and killed by Loehmann seconds after Loehmann and his partner arrived. The officers, who are white, told investigators Loehmann had shouted three times at Tamir to raise his hands.

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