WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS, W.Va. – In White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia, Police Chief D.S. Teubert has stepped down from his position and returned to his former role as a patrolman, WVVA-TV reported. This change follows Teubert’s recommendation to hire Timothy Loehmann, the former Cleveland officer who fatally shot 12-year-old Tamir Rice in 2014, as a probationary officer. Loehmann resigned from the White Sulphur Springs police force last week, marking the third time in six years that he has left a police department amid backlash shortly after being hired.
At a recent town council meeting, Mayor Kathy Glover expressed regret over Loehmann’s hiring, stating, “I did not know who he was, and I did not have all of the information that should have been given. It was something we were unaware of and not prepared for all the way around.” Glover also extended an apology to the Rice family.
Tamir Rice, a Black child, was playing with a pellet gun outside a Cleveland recreation center on November 22, 2014, when he was shot by Loehmann just seconds after he and his partner arrived on the scene. The officers, both white, claimed that Loehmann had shouted three times at Tamir to raise his hands. The incident sparked widespread protests regarding police treatment of Black individuals, especially after a grand jury decided not to indict Loehmann or his partner.
Cleveland settled a lawsuit over Tamir’s death for $6 million and subsequently fired Loehmann for lying on his application to become a police officer. Loehmann’s career continued to be controversial; he was briefly hired by the police department in Bellaire, Ohio, in October 2018 but withdrew his application following public criticism. In July 2022, he was sworn in as the only police officer in Tioga, Pennsylvania, but left the position without working a single shift due to backlash and media attention.
In the wake of Teubert’s resignation, Deputy Police Chief Julian R. Byer Jr. has been sworn in as the new police chief of White Sulphur Springs. Attempts to reach the White Sulphur Springs police department for comment were unsuccessful, and Mayor Glover did not immediately respond to requests for further information.
White Sulphur Springs, located along the Virginia border in southeastern West Virginia, is known for the Greenbrier resort, owned by Republican Governor Jim Justice.
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