TIOGA, P.a. (WETM) — There are refuting claims among leaders in Tioga County regarding the hiring if Timothy Loehmann, the former Cleveland police officer who shot and killed 12-year-old Tamir Rice in 2014.
According to Tioga Borough Council President Steve Hazlett, Tioga Mayor David Wilcox was aware of Loehmann’s hiring and background, despite claims from Wilcox he was not told about Loehmann’s history.
“I want to personally assure everyone that I had zero knowledge of the candidate we just hired for our police department,” Wilcox said Wednesday at a protest in Tioga over Loehmann’s hiring.
Hazlett told 18 News Wilcox had “all access to this information,” and “refused” to look at any of the information until the day Loehmann was interviewed. It’s unclear when that interview took place.
“He had his application and full packet to be looked at and the mayor never opened any of it up,” Hazlett said.
Hazlett also told 18 News he informed Wilcox about Loehmann’s history.
“I told him that there’s information in there [he] should really look at,” Hazlett said. “When we got out of the interview, the mayor made a statement to me that was ‘wow, that man is awesome.'”
18 News has reached out to Wilcox multiple times for comment but has not heard back.
In a late day Facebook post Thursday, Wilcox said Council members should be “ashamed” of themselves after voting to hire Loehmann. Wilcox said that to “imply” that he knew about the hiring “makes me [him] sick to my [his] stomach.”
In the same post, Wilcox said a “special meeting” regarding Loehmann’s hiring will take place Tuesday evening.