A police union says it has appealed the firing of a white Cleveland police officer who fatally shot a 12-year-old black boy playing with a pellet gun.

Henry Hilow, an attorney for the Cleveland Police Patrolmen's Association, and union President Jeff Follmer say the appeal challenging an arbitrator's decision that Timothy Loehmann should remained fired was filed recently in Cuyahoga County.

Loehmann was cleared in Tamir Rice's 2014 shooting but fired in 2017 for failing to disclose to Cleveland he'd been previously forced out by another department. The city's arbitrator in December 2018 upheld Loehmann's firing.

Cleveland spokesman Dan Williams says the city doesn't comment on ongoing litigation.

The Rice family attorney Subodh Chandra says in a statement it's "unfortunate" the union "continues to embrace lawlessness in law enforcement."