White police officer faces murder case in shooting of black motorist in license-plate traffic stop
A white University of Cincinnati police officer who stopped a black motorist for having a missing front license plate and then shot him to death as he sat in the driver’s seat of his vehicle has been indicted for murder.
Officer Ray Tensing “purposefully killed” motorist Samuel DuBose during the traffic stop earlier this month, said Hamilton County prosecutor Joe Deters, who also decried the “senseless” and “asinine” slaying. “This office has probably reviewed upwards of hundreds of police shootings, and this is the first time that we’ve thought this is without question a murder,” he told reporters.
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Tensing had claimed after the shooting that he had almost been run over and was dragged by the car before he fired his weapon. However, the officer’s bodycam showed that wasn’t so, and Tensing fell backwards only after he shot DuBose, according to Deters, who said he was shocked when he saw the video of the incident.
“Could you imagine the outrage you would have if this was your kid, if this was your brother, over a stop like this?” Deters said. “And he didn’t do anything violent towards the officer. He wasn’t dragging him. And [Tensing] pulled out his gun and intentionally shot him in the head.”
Tensing, who has now been fired by the university, turned himself in later in the day, once the indictment was announced.
