Cameron Knight

cknight@enquirer.com

Sam DuBose's sister, Terina Allen, asked Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders about police accountability at the Democratic Town Hall in Columbus Sunday night, which aired on CNN.

"As Americans, it's accepted that we can speak out against terrorists, we can speak out against murderers and killers of all forms, except when that killer is a police officer," Allen said.

She told Sanders that DuBose would have celebrated his 44th birthday on Saturday if he hadn't been shot and killed by former University of Cincinnati police officer Ray Tensing during a traffic stop last July.

"It's been my experience, unfortunately, that police officers do lie. They do kill unjustly. They do falsify police reports. As president what would you do to create a zero tolerance policy toward unjust police killings and help to create a system of accountability that is greater than what we have right now?" she asked.

Sanders first offered condolences for Allen's "terrible, unjust loss," then outlined his plan to address police accountability.

"If elected President of the United States, my Department of Justice will investigate every killing of an American held in police custody or killed while being apprehended, an automatic department of justice investigation," he said.

He went on to say he would help implement training procedures to emphasize to officers that "the use of lethal force is the last response, not the first response."

Sanders opened a campaign office in Cincinnati last week.

Sanders faced off against Hillary Clinton during the town hall event, but no other official debates are planned between the Democratic hopefuls.