On Thursday, Cincinnati prosecutors filed murder charges against University of Cincinnati police officer Ray Tensing for the death of Samuel DuBose after a body-cam video showed the officer shooting an unarmed DuBose, who had been pulled over for not having a front-end license plate, in the head.
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Officer Ray Tensing, 25, appeared at his arraignment Thursday wearing a striped jail suit, with his hands cuffed behind him.
“Officer Ray Tensing is where he needs to be right now, a million bond, locked up for taking this man’s life”, Rev. Damon Lynch III said.
Tensing’s story went like this: After he pulled Dubose over for driving a auto without a front license plate, there was some kind of altercation, and Dubose drove off. The vehicle dragged Tensing and he was forced to fire his weapon to save his life.
“He’s feeling like he’s been run over by a train”, Mathews said.
DuBose’s death raises questions about the training of University of Cincinnati police officers, who have an agreement with the city allowing them to patrol off the campus of more than 40,000 students.
Tensing will be back in court next month.
Thomas Fehr, a representative of the Fraternal Order of Police-Ohio Labor Council, told the Cincinnati Enquirer that the grievance was filed Thursday on Tensing’s behalf and with his consent.
Deters said Tensing should have let DuBose drive away.
Lonnie Soury, a representative for the University confirmed that the two other officers, Kidd and Lindenschmidt, are now on administrative leave. Then they made their way to Police District 1 and stood in front of the doors, where they were met by a line of armed officers.
Police Chief Jeffrey Blackwell said Tensing was “wrong” in his choice of actions, and officers who make such decisions must “be held accountable” for the outcome.
But a review of the officer’s body camera footage showed Tensing was never in danger during the July 19 incident. “It’s so senseless”, Deters said.
Police officers are rarely charged after fatally shooting people.
Tensing was fired from his police job on Wednesday, when he was indicted on the murder and voluntary manslaughter charges. Mark O’Mara, a lawyer for Dubose’s family, said that his relatives did not want a violent or aggressive response to the news of the indictment. He was indicted Wednesday in the July 19 shooting of 43-year-old Samuel DuBose, of Cincinnati, during a traffic stop.
The first indictment came about after Tulsa, Oklahoma Reserve Deputy Robert Bates shot and killed a black man named Eric Harris after Harris fled a police sting operation.
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So far this year, more than 550 people have been shot and killed by police, according to a Washington Post database tracking such shootings this year.
