Cleveland, OH – Today, Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas Court Judge Joseph D. Russo affirmed an arbitrator's decision approving the city of Cleveland's firing of Officer Timothy Loehmann, the officer who shot 12-year-old Tamir Rice on November 22, 2014.

Cleveland fired Loehmann not because he rushed upon and immediately killed a child without justification, but because he lied on his application to become a police officer.

Subodh Chandra, counsel for Samaria Rice, said on the family's behalf:

Having ended a child's life, Loehmann should live his life as something other than a police officer. Having lied on his application to get the job that enabled him to end a child's life, Loehmann should apply to be something other than a police officer. And Cleveland's police union—which is apparently so uncommitted to truth and the rule of law that it thinks that it's okay for an officer to lie—needs to end its relentless assault on the community's intelligence and integrity. Clevelanders do not want Loehmann to ever again be entrusted with a badge and gun anywhere, but least of all here. The union leadership should stop embarrassing itself with the appeals and let the Rice family—and the community—heal.