Cincinnati prosecutor says Ray Tensing ‘should never have been a police officer’ as body-camera footage is released of white officer killing unarmed black man

This article is more than 5 years old

This article is more than 5 years old

A white police officer who gunned down an unarmed black man in Cincinnati, Ohio, has been indicted for murder by a grand jury, as the county prosecutor described the shooting as the “most asinine act” he had ever seen committed by a police officer.

Samuel DuBose, 43, was killed on 19 July by a single shot to the head fired by University of Cincinnati police officer Ray Tensing during a routine traffic stop, in which DuBose was pulled over for not having a front license plate.

Tensing had maintained he was “dragged” by DuBose’s vehicle after the two entered into a physical altercation and was forced to shoot, but Hamilton County prosecutor Joseph Deters said body-camera evidence completely contradicted this account.

In a frank assessment of the officer’s conduct, Deters said Tensing had “purposely killed” DuBose and that he “should never have been a police officer”.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Samuel DuBose. Photograph: Facebook

DuBose’s death is the latest in a string of a high-profile killings of black Americans at the hands of US police, and comes almost a year after the death of 18-year-old Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, which prompted widespread protests around the US. The incident also follows the police shooting of unarmed 50-year-old Walter Scott in South Carolina, where eyewitness video led to a murder charge against the officer responsible.

Tensing’s body-camera footage shows a relatively calm exchange between the two and there appears to be only a short altercation. In the recording, Tensing asks DuBose, a father of 10, for his driver’s license a number of times and inquires about a bottle on the car floor, which DuBose hands over. At one point DuBose says: “I have a license. You can run my name,” after telling the officer he cannot find his card.

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“I didn’t even do nothing,” DuBose later says as the officer instructs him to take his seatbelt off. At this point DuBose appears to pull the door shut and start up the engine. Tensing appears to reach inside the car and the car begins to roll slowly. Tensing then shouts “stop” twice, pulls his firearm and shoots in through the open window.

Deters said the video showed that Tensing actually fell backwards after shooting DuBose, and that he was not dragged at all.

“It is our belief that he was not dragged. If you slow down this tape you see what happens, it is a very short period of time from when the car starts rolling to when a gun is out and he’s shot in the head,” Deters said.

“[DuBose] was simply, slowly rolling away,” Deters added.

The video then shows the vehicle speed up, a result, Deters said, of the fact that DuBose was “dead instantly” and may have accelerated the car as he slumped. The car reaches the cross street and appears to have collided with a pylon in the street. Tensing chases it as another officer arrives and the engine is still revving by the time he catches up to it.



He radios the shot in and then walks around to the driver’s side and shuts off the engine. DuBose’s bloodied body can be seen inside.

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“I thought he was going to run me over,” says Tensing.

“Are you OK?” shouts the other officer, who is standing in front of another police officer who has arrived on the scene.

“I’m good,” Tensing replies.

Deters, who was visibly angered at points during the press conference, continued: “He [Tensing] wasn’t dealing with someone who was wanted for murder, OK? He was dealing with someone who didn’t have a front license plate. This is, in the vernacular, a pretty chicken-crap stop, all right? And – I could use harsher words.

“I’ve been doing this for 30 years,” he added. “This is the most asinine act I’ve ever seen a police officer make, totally unwarranted.”

Deters also said the death reflected poorly on the university police department and had advised Cincinnati police chief Jeffrey Blackwell that the force be disbanded and replaced with a new city police precinct on campus.



Facebook Twitter Pinterest Officer Ray Tensing. Photograph: Greenhills Police Dept

“The university does a great job educating people … that should be their job, being police officers should not be their role.”

The traffic stop occurred near the university’s main campus, and UC police have said the intersection was within the campus police’s jurisdiction.

At a press conference immediately after the announcement of charges, members of DuBose’s family welcomed the decision to prosecute.

“I trust God, and I knew it was going to be alright,” said Audrey DuBose, Samuel’s mother. “I knew that if this man [Tensing] went free, and nothing was done to him, it was because he was really a righteous man and he didn’t do nothing.

“But I knew that my son was a righteous man. I knew that my son had the same spirit that dwells in me, dwell in him. That’s how he was fed. So, if my son is righteous and he get killed, somebody had to be wicked here.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Samuel DuBose’s family: ‘Thank God this one didn’t go unsolved and hidden’. Link to video

Mark O’Mara, the DuBose family’s attorney, said he was surprised by Deters’ strong remarks.

“I can understand why, because this was an absolute unmitigated murder,” O’Mara told the Guardian.

The video of the shooting “proved” to the DuBose family that “their son was who they always knew him to be, which was nonviolent,” O’Mara said. “And it proves that he was murdered by a cop without reason, so in that sense they were relieved as best as you can be relieved in the trauma.”



O’Mara did not rule out a possible civil suit, saying: “I certainly think the department, for a lack of training, or whatever it may have been ... should be held responsible for this, absolutely.”

The city had been bracing for the announcement of the grand jury decision with both members of DuBose’s family and city officials calling for calm.

The university cancelled all classes on its uptown and medical campuses on Wednesday in anticipation of the grand jury decision . In a statement, the university said the decision was made with “an abundance of caution”.



“We realize this is a challenging time for our university community,” the statement said.

Shortly after the indictment was revealed, the university announced Tensing had been fired.

Major Charmaine McGuffey of the Hamilton County sheriff’s office said Tensing turned himself in voluntarily around 1.45pm. . He is expected to be arraigned at 10am on Thursday, with no bond yet set.

Tensing was escorted to the county justice center through the sheriff’s tunnel system. “We didn’t take him outside,” McGuffey said.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest A makeshift memorial at the sight where Sam DuBose was killed. Photograph: Ryan Felton/The Guardian

At the intersection of Rice and Valencia, where DuBose was pronounced dead, friends were busily preparing for a rally on a rain-soaked Wednesday evening.

The makeshift memorial at the corner bared signs that read MEDIA LIES and contained mementos of DuBose, such as a CD he had produced.

A friend of DuBose’s, Latisha Washington, said Tensing’s actions jolted the close-knit Mount Auburn neighborhood, where children are commonly playing outside during the day.

“When [Tensing] shot him, and he lost control of his wheel, what if there were some kids out? Six in the evening, there was a lot of people still out.”

Latisha’s wife, Ron, said he had known DuBose – a “very, very loved person” – for more than two decades.

“We’ve all had lives that we had to make choices and decisions – but the good thing about Sam is he recognized the bad he’s done and he tried to change his life,” Ron Washington said.

Protests across Cincinnati remained peaceful into Wednesday night but those on the street said they were determined to see a conviction.



“I still have chills down my spine to think something like that can happen in 2015,” said Alicia Reece, an Ohio state representative, on the bodycam footage. Reece joined a rally organized by Black Lives Matter outside the Hamilton County courthouse hours after the county prosecutor announced Tensing was indicted for murder by a grand jury.



At times protesters’ rhetoric escalated in tone, as a steady downpour lightened to a drizzle. But the two-hour rally remained peaceful.



Jennifer Rice commended prosecutor Deters’ decision: “We got the indictment but I want to see [a conviction].”



Jerome Munighan, a local teacher, said Tensing’s decision to shoot, even though he had a bodycam running, was simple: “He’s a murderer. That’s how a murderer would respond.”



The responding officers were “liars and they’re complicit for murder they ought to be handled accordingly”, Munighan said. “Number one, they can start by dismissing them from their positions, and number two, if there’s criminal charges that can be brought against them, do that.”



Smaller groups broke off around 7.45pm and marched from the courthouse through the gentrified Over-the-Rhine neighborhood. A group briefly gathered in front of a Cincinnati police department district office. As of 8.30pm officers said rallies around town had quieted and no arrests were reported.



A couple of miles north, a small group of students and residents gathered for a peaceful rally and discussion in a UC public square. The group, situated in a circle while the sounds of orchestral music projected overhead, took turns discussing in an open-air forum where anything goes. Some touched on the recent shooting, while others conveyed daily life experiences they’re grieving about.



“I’m tired of just not being able to walk around like anybody else,” said one female black student.

Cincinnati police chief Jeffrey Blackwell appeared at the courthouse rally around 7.30pm. He told the Guardian: “I have to be here.

“I need to be here so the people understand I’m with them as they exercise their constitutional right to organize in a peaceful manner.”

Blackwell also made an appearance at at the UC rally, telling the crowd: “I just want to encourage you guys to keep up the fight.”

Dubose’s son, nine-year-old Samuel, addressed protesters at one point and said he “felt good” that Tensing was being “locked up because he had shot him in point-blank murder”.



“This dude lied,” his son said. “He knew there was going to be a video, he knew he was going to lie ... that’s why they’re charging him for murder.”

The Cincinnati police department planned to work closely with the university’s public safety department, Blackwell said.



“I am personally going to work with [University of Cincinnati police chief Jason Goodrich] and and his officers to bring them up to a higher standard of training and professionalism and accountability.”

While the officer’s body-camera footage ultimately played a role in the indictment, the reality that Tensing’s actions during a routine traffic stop led to DuBose’s death illustrates “manifestations of systemic and institutional racism,” said James Yaacov Delaney.

“It’s going to take more than bodycams,” he said.

Delaney also said the responding officers should be held accountable for their actions. “Because they knew” something was amiss, Delaney asserted. “They knew and they had plenty of opportunities to change their story about what occurred and they didn’t.”

Friends and family who spoke at the rally echoed her push for more charges. “The officers who showed up at the scene should’ve arrested him ... not covered it up,” said one friend.

Anthony Lattermore said DuBose was a lifelong friend; they first met when he was seven-years-old. Lattermore called for peace, but said tensions were rising in the community.

“I don’t know how long we could hold these young soldiers at bay,” he said.