Officials criticize officer
CINCINNATI — This time, some of the sharpest criticism of a police officer after the slaying of an unarmed black man came from top law enforcement and city officials.
The Wednesday indictment of a University of Cincinnati police officer on a charge of murder in the traffic-stop shooting was applauded by officials in a city roiled by racial violence that erupted in 2001 after an unarmed black man was killed by Cincinnati police after a string of earlier shootings by officers.
The family of Samuel DuBose, 43, urged the community to remain calm, as it has in a series of demonstrations since the July 19 shooting by officer Ray Tensing, who is white. Tensing had stopped DuBose for a missing front license plate, which is required in Ohio but not in neighboring states.
DuBose’s death comes amid months of national scrutiny of police dealings with African-Americans, especially those killed by officers. Authorities so far have not focused on race in the death of DuBose. City officials who have viewed the video said the traffic stop shouldn’t have led to a shooting.
“This officer was wrong,” Cincinnati Police Chief Jeffrey Blackwell said, adding that officers “have to be held accountable” when they’re in the wrong.
Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters scoffed at Tensing’s claim that he was dragged by DuBose’s car, saying the officer “purposely killed him.” Using words such as “asinine” and “senseless,” the veteran prosecutor known for tough stands on urban crime called it “a chicken crap” traffic stop.
“It was so unnecessary,” Deters said. He added that Tensing “should never have been a police officer.”
Mayor John Cranley said the way officials have handled the case could help make Cincinnati a national model for “the pursuit of justice.”
But Emmanuel Gray, an organizer with the activist group Black Lives Matter, said at a rally Wednesday evening that the body camera video made the difference in how the case was handled. “If there was no camera at that scene, the media and everybody would have taken the word of Tensing and the other officers,” he said.
Tensing, 25, who was jailed Wednesday and has a court appearance scheduled today, was fired soon after the indictment was announced. He had been with the University of Cincinnati for more than a year after starting police work in 2011 in a Cincinnati suburb.
Tensing’s attorney, Stewart Mathews, said he was shocked that his client was indicted on a murder charge and that Tensing did not intend to kill DuBose.
Tensing, who could face up to life in prison if convicted, has said he thought he was going to be dragged under the car and “feared for his life,” Mathews said.
Mathews said a video from the body camera of a police officer who arrived right after the shooting shows Tensing lying in the street after he had gotten free of the car, but that video hasn’t been released by authorities.
“With the political climate in this country with white police officers shooting black individuals, I think they need somebody to make an example of,” Mathews said.
Authorities have said Tensing noticed the car driven by DuBose didn’t have a front license plate. They say Tensing stopped the car and a struggle ensued after DuBose failed to provide a driver’s license and refused to get out of the car.
“I didn’t even do nothing,” DuBose can be heard telling Tensing. DuBose held up what appears to be a bottle of gin.
Tensing fired once, striking DuBose in the head.
