West Virginia police chief resigns after outrage over his hiring of officer who killed Tamir Rice

A West Virginia police chief has resigned from his position following criticism over his hiring of the former Cleveland police officer who fatally shot 12-year-old Tamir Rice in 2014.

D.S. Teubert voluntarily resigned as chief of police of the White Sulphur Springs Police Department and demoted himself to patrolman, Mayor Kathy Glover announced during a city council meeting Monday evening.

White Sulphur Springs is in southeastern West Virginia, about 370 miles from Cleveland. It has a population of roughly 2,220.

Both Teubert and Glover faced criticism over Teubert’s hiring of Timothy Loehmann, who fatally shot Tamir in Cleveland on Nov. 22, 2014, when he was responding to a call of someone pointing a gun at people. Loehmann did not face charges in the shooting and was fired from the Cleveland Police Department in 2017 in an unrelated matter. Glover announced Loehmann’s resignation from the White Sulphur Springs department last week after public outcry. Neither Teubert nor Glover have responded to repeated inquiries about his hiring date.

Glover previously told NBC News that Loehmann had been hired at the request and recommendation of Teubert to work as a probationary police officer and an at-will employee for the city and that he had resigned as of July 1. It marked the second time Loehmann had resigned from a police department since he left Cleveland.

Deputy Chief Julian R. Byer Jr. was sworn in as the new White Sulphur Springs chief last Wednesday, Glover said.

In a statement she read during the meeting Monday evening, Glover said that the chief of police oversaw hiring, firing and disciplinary actions for the department.

“As mayor, I understand your outrage and emotional investment in this whole entire situation,” she told a packed room of constituents, according to video of the meeting posted online.

She said Loehmann’s name “did not engage any recollection” for her personally when he was hired, and that she “trusted the results of the extensive requirements” for the job “and the due diligence of the department head when swearing him in.”

“When the previous incident was brought to light, we acted as calmly, swiftly and professionally as we could to validate the accusations that were being circulated on social media and other sources,” Glover said. 

She said that she had consulted 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 point she reviewed the information in the police department’s personnel file for Loehmann. Later that day, she met with Loehmann, who resigned effective immediately, she said.

“Although I was not aware of the situation regarding the hiring, I still accept accountability as the leader of the city,” Glover said. “This should not have happened.”

She also pledged to change the city’s hiring process for police officers.

“I accept that there are mistakes in the current process we have and those mistakes will be reviewed and changed moving forward,” 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 the creation of a public safety review board for the police department. He said he “felt it imperative” that the city “adapt and put something in place” to protect the community from what it had just experienced.

“This should in the future save our citizens and community from the perils of what everyone experienced in the last few weeks with the officer Loehmann ordeal,” he said. “This will prohibit something of such magnitude from occurring again.”

The review board would be comprised of three members who act as a link between the city council and the city concerning employment and hiring 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 hold the power 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 shot and killed him seconds after Loehmann and his then-partner, Frank Garmback, a veteran training officer, arrived. The caller told a 911 dispatcher that it was probably a juvenile and that the gun looked fake but that was never relayed to Loehmann and Garmback. Tamir was Black. His killing sparked months of protests over police treatment of Black people. In May 2017, about three years after he killed Rice, Loehmann was fired by the Cleveland Police Department, which said his 2013 application contained inaccuracies.

Teubert, who has not returned repeated requests for an interview or comment, defended his decision to hire Loehmann in an interview with Cleveland.com before either of their resignations. He told the outlet that he had spent a year performing a background check and expressed surprise that the hiring had drawn widespread attention.

“Just as a person, I looked at the whole situation,” Teubert said. “I did a background check. I researched everything. It’s just a sad situation. Does any police officer in the world stand a chance when they’re involved in a shooting? Do they deserve to never work again as a police officer, or is it just this shooting?”

He also said that he did not believe Loehmann had done anything wrong.

“What crime was he convicted of?” Teubert said. “I just want everyone to be fair about this whole thing. If I thought he had done something 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 over Loehmann’s hiring and a lack of faith in Glover’s leadership.

Jerrell Newsome, 39, told Glover directly that it was unacceptable for her and Teubert to have hired a man who took the life of a child and entrust him with a gun.

“You should resign from your job and let us elect a new mayor,” Newsome said.

His statement was met with loud applause.

Glover did not immediately return a request for comment Wednesday about the calls for her to resign.

Another resident, Sonia Brown, 67, commended Lockhart for proposing the new public safety board but raised concerns about how Loehmann had passed a background check.

“Somebody failed us,” Brown said. “This could have been very bad for our city.”

In an interview Wednesday, Brown called the hiring “a very egregious oversight.”

“I think that they didn’t have the citizens’ best interest at heart when they hired him,” she said.