Wednesday, August 12, 2015

Cincinnati College Cop Disposed of Dubose

Really makes one feel all safe and secure now that all the college cops have been armed:

"University of Cincinnati officer indicted in shooting death of driver; Minor traffic stop led to driver’s death; Prosecutor shows body-camera video" by Richard Pérez-Peña New York Times  July 30, 2015

NEW YORK — A University of Cincinnati police officer was indicted Wednesday on a murder charge in what a prosecutor called “a senseless, asinine shooting” during a minor traffic stop. It was the first time such a charge had been leveled against an officer in the city.

The Hamilton County prosecuting attorney, Joseph T. Deters, released a much-anticipated video of the shooting of Samuel DuBose, and described it as providing crucial evidence that the officer had lied about being dragged by DuBose’s car.

Deters said at a news conference in Cincinnati, “This is without question a murder. He wasn’t dealing with someone who was wanted for murder. He was dealing with someone who didn’t have a front license plate. This was, in the vernacular, a pretty chicken-crap stop.”

During an interview with an Ohio television station, a lawyer for Officer Ray Tensing, Stew Mathews, disputed the prosecutor’s comments, and said other video of the shooting would tell a completely different story. Mathews said Tensing cried when he heard of the indictment.

I don't know what to make of all these anymore. 

Not only that, they are coming in machine gun bursts these days, so what I suspect is we have a mix of staged and scripted crisis drills presented as live by the pre$$, some false flag hoax jobs for agit-prop realism, and a piling on regarding any true shooting to further push the agenda. 

Even if you take at face value the propaganda pre$$ version of things, it still isn't good.

The prosecutor’s office said it was the first time that a law enforcement officer in Hamilton County had been indicted on a murder charge for use of force while on duty. At the news conference, Deters said Tensing “should never have been a police officer,” but he declined to elaborate. 

There is a first time for everything, yup.

Asked whether he thought Tensing had tried to mislead investigators with his account of the shooting, Deters said, “Yeah, yes, I think he was making an excuse for the purposeful killing of another person.

“I think he lost his temper because Mr. DuBose wouldn’t get out of his car,” he said.

The death of DuBose, who was black, at the hands of Tensing, who is white, joined a string of recent episodes — in Staten Island, N.Y.; Cleveland; Baltimore; North Charleston, S.C.; and Ferguson, Mo., among others — that have raised hard questions about law enforcement’s use of force and the role of race in policing.

And darn near stirred up a race war, what with their controlled-opposition operatives like Big Al and Jesse being sent in on occasion (backed by Soros money from what I've read). 

Also see: Atlanta Cop Let Suspect Escape

Police kill two people each day, one black, one white. White doesn't get the attention. No one cares about whitey (blog editor chuckles to himself before sighing).

Video cameras have recorded many of the episodes and nonlethal encounters — like the arrest of Sandra Bland, who died three days later in a Texas jail cell — and offered disturbing evidence of the confrontations that often contradicts the accounts of people involved.

That tasteless piece is on today's docket.

“I’m so thankful that everything was uncovered,” DuBose’s mother, Audrey, said at a separate news conference. “I thought it was going to be covered up.”

Even so, she said of Tensing, “If he asks for forgiveness, oh yeah, I can forgive him.”

That's strange, and one wonders if actors are raising a flag over the Roof, if you know what I mean.

She and other family members said that if it were not for the body camera worn by Tensing, his story would have been accepted, and he would have gone unpunished. Choking back tears, Terina Allen, a sister of DuBose, said, “Every day now, I’m going to be marching for video cams.”

That will also be a theme when I roll above today.

Rashanda Reid said her twin sister, Dashanda, and DuBose had gotten engaged the day before he died. “They didn’t get a chance to set a date,” she said.

Tensing turned himself in for arrest, and the university, which had put him on administrative leave, said Wednesday that he had been fired from the police force.

Cincinnati officials, religious leaders, and members of DuBose’s family pleaded for peace on the city’s streets, hoping not to see the kind of violent unrest that shook Baltimore in April after a black man, Freddie Gray, died in police custody.

“The officer was wrong, and when we’re wrong, we have to be held accountable,” said Jeffrey Blackwell, Cincinnati’s police chief. However, he added, “make no mistake, we are operationally ready to respond. Violence and lawlessness will not be tolerated.” 

Even if authority has to be violent and lawless about it!!

DuBose, 43, a father of 10, was just south of the university campus, driving a green 1998 Honda Accord without a front license plate, at about 6:30 p.m. when Tensing began following him, according to an account that Jason Goodrich, chief of the university police, gave on Monday. Moments later, the officer pulled DuBose over on a side street a few blocks from the campus.

Yikes! 

Now none of them have a dad, and remember, it's a COLLEGE COP! Not a local townie or city authority, or State cop. 

Shouldn't there be some sort of proportionality here?

On the body-camera video released by the prosecutor, Tensing repeatedly asks DuBose to produce a driver’s license. DuBose says several times that he has a license before admitting that he does not have it with him. He shows that he has the missing license plate with him, in the glove box.

At one point, the officer asks, “What’s that bottle on the floor?” Dubose reaches down, picks up a bottle of gin and hands it to the officer.

It's a not a good situation, no license and all, but is it deserving of blam-blam?

Tensing begins to open the driver’s door and tells DuBose to remove his seat belt; DuBose pulls the door closed and starts his car. What happens next is a flurry of blurred movements: The officer steps to his left; the car’s engine can be heard revving; and the officer reaches into the car with his left hand, yells “stop” twice, draws his gun with his right hand, fires the weapon, and appears to fall backward. Then he gets up and runs after the car as it rolls off down the block before coming to a stop on the sidewalk, its driver fatally wounded or already dead.

From the moment the officer touches the door handle to the fatal shot, less than five seconds pass.

That's three more seconds than what Tamir Rice had.

Another university officer who arrived shortly after the shooting, Eric Weibel, wrote in his report that Tensing had told him “he was being dragged by the vehicle and had to fire his weapon,” and that “Officer Tensing stated that he was almost run over.” A third officer, Weibel wrote, said he had seen Tensing being dragged.

I haven't seen the video so I dunno. All I have to go on is the Globe here (sigh).

--more--"

Also see: No charges for 2 officers at scene of traffic stop shooting

Related:

"At least six people were arrested during a Friday night rally protesting the fatal shooting of a black motorist stopped by a white officer on the University of Cincinnati police force. The protest began with a candlelight vigil organized by the family of Samuel DuBose, who was killed on July 19. Police said one person was arrested on charges of threatening a business after the vigil ended. Others were arrested after allegedly trying to obstruct officers. Police treatment of African-Americans has been the focus of heightened national scrutiny since last year."

And then everyone went back to class.

UPDATE: Authorities say Indianapolis police fatally shot 15-year-old