The Cleveland Police Patrolman’s Association is headed by a big guy with a big mouth.
Det. Steve Loomis has been getting himself some media coverage in the past couple of days by demanding that Ohio Gov. John Kasich suspend the state’s open carry gun law during the Republican convention.
He seemed sort of a sympathetic character to me as he talked about keeping police and civilians safe during the upcoming chaotic event.
Now I’ve seen an article on RawStory that completely changes my mind.
Steve Loomis of the Cleveland police is the guy who once referred to 12-year-old Tamir Rice as “menacing.” He blamed the sixth-grader’s death on his own actions, even though he was shot to death within 20 seconds after the police arrived on the scene where he was playing with a toy gun.
Just look, terrifying isn’t he?
"Maybe you heard about the Tamir Rice case and wondered: How does a 12-year-old boy with a toy gun on a… https://t.co/Hs6bAdrBai
— #Justice4Tamir (@msgoldsby74) July 16, 2016
Steve Loomis blamed the child with the toy for being shot by a cop who didn’t even take the time to say, “Drop it.”
Now Loomis is back in the news again. Within hours of the deaths of three policemen in Baton Rouge, Loomis took to Fox News to lay the blame at the feet of the President of the United States.
His words were outrageous and chilling. He said:
“The President of the United States validated the false narrative and the nonsense that Black Lives Matter and the media are pressing out there to the public. Validated it with his very divisive statements and now we see an escalation. This has got to end. We need some leadership in this country.”
Look very carefully at the wording there. He didn’t say that President Obama has validated the actions of the movement “Black Lives Matter.” He said that Obama “has validated the false narrative and the nonsense.”
That is not a subtle distinction, folks. This man, this police officer, is saying that the recent shootings of police were caused by the President trying to convince us that Black lives matter. It’s obvious that Steve Loomis believes Black lives do not matter at all.
Which may explain how the hell he could have publicly blamed a young boy for his own death at the hands of a trigger happy cop.
It wasn’t because Tamir Rice was menacing. It was because Tamir Rice was Black.
So is President Obama.
Obviously, they must both be at fault for all this violence.
Featured image by Dave de Vaal via Flickr. Available through Creative Commons Attribution Generic 2.0 license.
