On July 19, University of Cincinnati police officer Ray Tensing stopped 43-year old Samuel DuBose because his car was missing a front license plate. Minutes later, DuBose, a black man, was dead, after Tensing, a white police officer, shot him in the head. Today a grand jury indicted Tensing on murder charges.
The county prosecutor, Joe Deters, said in his announcement of the felony charges that it was the most “asinine” act he had seen a police officer commit, and that Tensing should have never been part of the police force. In a police report, Tensing claimed that DuBose’s car “dragged him.” But a disturbing video of the incident, captured on Tensing’s body camera, clearly shows this wasn’t the case:
“I think [Tensing] lost his temper because Mr. Dubose wouldn’t get out of his car,” Deters said. “When you see [the video] you will not believe how quickly he pulls his gun and shoots him in the head. It’s maybe a second. It’s incredible. So senseless. I feel so sorry for his family and I feel sorry for the community… This should not have happened.”
Ahead of the grand jury’s verdict, local news service Cincinnati.com wrote that the decision “rekindled worries about the sometimes strained relationship between police and African-Americans in Cincinnati.” The city experienced serious riots in 2001 after the shooting death of a black man by a white police officer.