Named for the thankfully retired (supposedly) “Supercop”, Jim Simone — who killed and wounded more civilians in the line of duty than perhaps any other police officer ever in the country — the condition I’ve dubbed Simone Syndrome is “a sickness that afflicts a tiny percentage of police officers, causing them to seek out opportunities to kill someone in the line of duty, knowing full-well in advance the murder will eventually be ruled justifiable.”
In Simone’s defense, he certainly was an equal opportunity killer; he shot as many whites as he did blacks … he obviously wasn’t about to pass up any opportunity to beef up his stats.
A retired senior officer (who served with distinction for over 40 years in Cleveland) candidly told me years ago the majority of police officers can go their entire careers without ever having to un-holster their weapons, let alone fire them. He continued by saying, “In almost every case, every confrontation, there’s a way to get the job done without anyone getting hurt or killed … all officers have to do is follow the book and do what they were trained to do in a professional manner. Sure, some shootings — a very few — are unavoidable,” he said, “but in almost every instance there’s another, less deadly way of handling the situation.” But of course police officers have to be actively seeking a peaceful solution, and a small percentage of them clearly are not.
So, what happened at Cudell Recreation Center? Even a cursory viewing of the video of the killing of 12-year-old Tamir Rice leads any sane person to only one conclusion: Rookie cop Timothy Loehmann opened fire on the youth with what appears to be a dreadful and sickening élan … his mission was not to “Protect and Serve” as the motto on the doors of Cleveland police squad cars so clearly states … his mission, seemingly, was to put the first notch on the handle of his trusty Glock.
He might have had visions of a ticker-tape parade being held to honor him as a hero dancing in his head as he pulled the trigger. He was in cowboy heaven; seemingly relishing the moment so completely that, for four minutes, he didn’t even try to aid his victim — allowing the boy to simply lie where he fell.
The scary part is that an experienced training officer, Frank Garmback, was driving the vehicle that got far too close to Tamir in the first place, thus allowing Loehmann to exit the squad car, his gun already blazing. Who trained this trainer?
The child was clearly alone in the park, no one was in any danger; why didn’t the officers either stay back and use the loudspeaker on their vehicle to tell Tamir to put the weapon down and lay face down on the ground, or, if they were in such fear of their lives (which will be the defense Loehmann will use to get off) why didn’t they simply wait for backup?
No police officer should be allowed to clearly (and unnecessarily) put himself in harm’s way, and then claim he had to take someone’s life to protect his own. That’s setting up a scenario for someone to die, plain and simple. A killing that will always be ruled “justifiable”, which, of course, is why they happen so often in this country: Cops know they can and will get away with it … because in virtually every case they historically have.
This escaping punishment is aided and abetted by a number of powerful institutions: unions, governmental agencies, and some media all circling the wagons to surround an accused officer and provide lines of defense. And, while the propensity to protect those who serve the public doing a sometimes-dangerous job can be understandable, it can’t be understandable — and no longer should be tolerated — in situations when the officer(s) is clearly wrong.
Jim Simone (who retired in 2011) was able to kill five people — and wound 11 others in 35 years of service — because the “blue wall of silence” prevented anyone from ever standing up and saying, “Stop! Enough!” After he killed the second citizen eyebrows in the police department should have been raised … and after the third, he should have been reassigned, taken off the street and placed in a position where no one else was likely to be killed. But that didn’t happen, in spite of virtually everyone on the force — and I do mean virtually everyone — knowing the man was a deadly threat, a danger to the community. In spite of the fact it was alleged that other officers were fearful of working with Simone as a partner, he nonetheless was surrounded and protected by their silence.
In this current case, the first line of defense was mouthed by Deputy Chief Ed Tomba, who said Officer Loehmann yelled at Tamir “three times” to put the gun down. Tomba has to get this version of events out there, since it’s critical to Loehmann’s claim of self-defense. But, if we are to believe our eyes (and not Tomba’s words), there simply was not time enough for such an order to be issued even once, let alone thrice. Again, Loehmann got out of the vehicle firing his weapon. By stating this obvious prevarication Tomba is pissing on the public and then telling us it’s only raining.
The second line of defense was executed by the media, which, in bold headlines a day later attempted to switch the conversation to Tamir’s father, who has had issues of domestic violence in his past, and his mother, who once plead guilty to drug dealing. Hey, with parents like these, maybe the two shots to the stomach were not enough. Perhaps Tamir deserved more … maybe both officers should have just emptied their weapons into his body since he obviously, in the minds of some in the media, due to his parentage, did not deserve to live. This is scurrilous, yellow journalism at its absolute worse.
The third line of defense will come later, as the case (if, indeed, charges against Loehmann are eventually brought forth) is stalled by the criminal justice system. Why is this system not to be trusted? Here’s why: Over three years ago former Cleveland police officer, Martin Lentz, was clearly caught on a police helicopter camera kicking the head of mentally ill, handcuffed man (Edward Henderson) — who was lying prone on the ground — like it was a football, and has yet to face any consequences in a court of law. Why?
This, then, is the system we’re supposed to blindly trust to eventually obtain justice for 12-yer-old Tamir Rice? Really?
Mayor Jackson often speaks in regards to officers’ actions being OK as long as they are “in the box”, but not OK when they are “outside the box.” Defending the actions of Timothy Loehmann is going to require the mayor to get a bigger box … a much bigger box.
2 Responses to “MANSFIELD: Simone Syndrome: Why Cops Kill #TamirRice #Ferguson”
jim
too much speculation
Dirty Simone
Simone should have been locked up, throw away the key many years ago. He plants things, harrass, instigates, provoke things to go sour just to have excuses to hurt people. He’s just an all around bad person. Anywhere he goes things get crazy. Ex: A shooting in Lorain County he helped to conspire …These judges know who all the dirty cops are. They probably keep them so they can use them to do their dirty work. It’s a shame that the kid was playing alone and the cop got away with killing him. He should be locked up or placed in the electric chair. The unnecessary killings must stop and the only way to stop this is to get rid of all bad police. Cops are not to contribute to danger like that or provoke it like Simone does. A kid playing a gun alone?… may have very well been practicing to be the next police officer. Im pretty sure some of these cops played with real guns when they were younger.