Activists demand answers in Ohio traffic-stop death

Rebecca Butts | The Cincinnati Enquirer

CINCINNATI — Hamilton County's prosecutor is looking into the weekend death of a black man pulled over because of a missing front license plate, and demonstrators Tuesday were asking for quick answers.

Officer Ray Tensing had worked at the University of Cincinnati Police Department for a little more than a year when he shot and killed Samuel Dubose, 43, during the traffic stop on Sunday. Tensing, who earns $51,604.80 a year, is now on paid administrative leave.

When Tensing asked Dubose to produce his license, Dubose gave the officer an unopened bottle of alcohol instead, university police Chief Jason Goodrich said. They then struggled through the car door.

Tensing drew his gun, fired one shot and was knocked to the ground, Goodrich said. The officer, who was treated at a hospital Sunday and released, sustained bruised legs and his uniform was torn during the struggle.

Dubose's car rolled a short distance, but he was shot in the head and died at the scene, the police chief said.

Abijah Reid, Dubose's fiancée, stood outside university police offices Tuesday with her children and members of University of Cincinnati Students Against Injustice to get more information, and the university released Tensing's personnel file.

"We did not get any answers at all," she said. "There are more questions than anything."

Students and members of Dubose's family asked why the officer pulled out his gun and wanted to view the video footage of the incident.

"Why can't I see the video?" Dubose's 9-year-old son asked Goodrich.

The Hamilton County Prosecutor's office has said it will not release the camera footage to the public during the initial investigation, Goodrich said. Police had not spoken to Tensing about the incident before the afternoon rally because the officer opted to wait 48 hours before giving a statement to investigators.

That period expired at 6:30 p.m. ET Tuesday.

Goodrich and Cincinnati police have reviewed the body camera footage and video from a nearby building, and Goodrich met with Dubose's family privately after the demonstration.

"This type of meeting with law enforcement would never have taken place years ago," said Ohio state Sen. Cecil Thomas, a Democrat from Cincinnati who joined the meeting for a while. "Getting information out as quickly as possible to help the community understand what happened is critical."

But he said the University of Cincinnati Police Department has no control over certain areas.

"People are losing their lives over not having a license plate," said Cierra Carter, 20, a University of Cincinnati student. "Those are not offenses worth dying for."

In the past 20 years, Dubose had been charged more than 75 times in Hamilton County. Most of the charges were nonviolent: driving without a license, joyriding, having windows tinted too dark, misdemeanor drug possession. An assault charge in 2013 was dismissed.

He faced eviction seven times, and the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles indefinitely suspended his license in January.

“People see an arrest record like that, and they automatically say, ‘Oh, that’s why they killed him,’ ” said Dubose's cousin, Ebony Johnson, 38. “It wasn’t like that. He’s never been violent.”

Johnson wondered why Tensing didn't use a Taser to subdue Dubose rather than shoot him. But after a University of Cincinnati police officer killed someone with a Taser in August 2011, the university agreed to pay $2 million to settle a lawsuit and suspend its officers' use of Tasers.

The university provided Tensing's personnel file Tuesday, but several other Enquirer public-records requests remain unfilled, including those for the incident report, 911 calls and video footage.

Tensing received an overall satisfactory rating in his annual evaluation in April.

"P.O. Tensing is extremely proactive when it comes to traffic enforcement, but only meets the standards when it comes to community service," the evaluating officer noted. "I would like to see him interact more with the public outside of traffic enforcement."

Contributing: Amber Hunt and Cameron Knight, The Cincinnati Enquirer.

Samuel Dubose, 43, of Cincinnati in a previous mugshot from Hamilton County Jail. (via WCPO-TV, Cincinnati)