Cincinnati police: Video of shooting 'not good'

[darnkatz]

I have a sick feeling in my stomach. This is going to be bad. The video will be released tomorrow at 11AM.


Cincinnati police chief wary of fallout from Dubose shooting video
Black man was unarmed when he was killed by a white U. of Cincinnati police officer during a routine traffic stop
July 28, 2015 5:26PM ET

On the same day Samuel Dubose was laid to rest after being shot to death by University of Cincinnati police, the city’s police chief said Tuesday that he had seen the unreleased video recording of the incident and it was “not good.”

Dubose, a 43-year-old black man, was unarmed when he was shot and killed by UC police officer Ray Tensing during a routine traffic stop on July 19. Tensing had pulled Dubose over about a half-mile from campus because his car was missing a front license plate.

According to Tensing, who is white, Dubose refused to show his driver’s license or get out of the vehicle, and instead pulled out a bottle of alcohol. A scuffle apparently ensued, culminating in Tensing shooting Dubose once in the head. He later told 911 dispatchers that he had been “almost run over” by Dubose’s car.

Hamilton Country prosecutor Joe Deters has refused to release the recording captured by Tensing’s body camera until the case has been presented to a grand jury. But police chief Jerry Blackwell told local NBC affiliate WLWT on Tuesday that the contents of the video were “not good.”

“It’s not a good situation,” he said. “I think that’s clear, and it will become evident once that video is shown. We’re just trying to do our best to be prepared for whatever might come out of it.”

At Dubose’s funeral ceremony at the Church of the Living God in Avondale on Tuesday, more than 500 people – including Blackwell, Cincinnati Mayor John Cranley and University of Cincinnati President Santa Ono – paid their respects to Dubose, a father of 10 and grandfather to four. His sister, Terina Allen, called for transparency in the investigation but told USA Today after the funeral service that her family didn’t “want any riots.”

“Sam wasn’t violent,” Allen said. “It would completely harm his memory if people were to take that route.”

Dubose’s death comes amid months of national scrutiny over police treatment of unarmed African-Americans, especially those killed by officers. The Cincinnati incident has also led to questions about the role armed campus police should play when they are off campus, as Tensing was.

UC officials said Monday they planned an independent review of police department policies following the incident, announcing the university had hired an independent reviewer to go over police policies and procedures.

Florida attorney Mark O'Mara has been retained to represent the Dubose family's interests. O'Mara defended former neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman in Trayvon Martin's fatal shooting.

With The Associated Press

[NewOrleans]

Hmmmm. I don't know what that means.

Is there any word on Tamir Rice's killers? FloFTW, you're the one who has been paying special attention to that one, yes?

[lyssbobiss, Command, B613]

They have presumptively closed UC's campus including most of the medical campuses in anticipation of this video being released. Our building is nearby so they've beefed up security and closed some streets as well.

This is really disheartening because Cinti has been held up as an example of a place that repaired race issues and relationships between police officers and civilians after the riots we had in...I think it was 2002? I don't want to go back to that.

[lyssbobiss, Command, B613]

That should say pre-emptively not presumptively. Stupid phone

[EnchantedSoul]

It was 2001. I'm here too and the stupid stuff being posted on FB is sickening

[ttt]

Jul 29, 2015 10:36:26 GMT -5 NewOrleans said:

Hmmmm. I don't know what that means.

Is there any word on Tamir Rice's killers? FloFTW, you're the one who has been paying special attention to that one, yes?

This is the most recent news: 

www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ssf/2015/07/cleveland_police_supervisors_d.html#incart_related_stories

But still no charges yet. They are planning to present the case to a grand jury, but it hasn't happened yet.  

[FloFTW]

Jul 29, 2015 10:36:26 GMT -5 NewOrleans said:

Hmmmm. I don't know what that means.

Is there any word on Tamir Rice's killers? FloFTW, you're the one who has been paying special attention to that one, yes?

NOTHING.

www.newsnet5.com/news/local-news/cleveland-metro/tamir-rice-rally-gives-prosecutor-mcginty-peition

[Cicero]

Jul 29, 2015 10:47:47 GMT -5 lyssbobiss, Command, B613 said:

They have presumptively closed UC's campus including most of the medical campuses in anticipation of this video being released. Our building is nearby so they've beefed up security and closed some streets as well.

This is really disheartening because Cinti has been held up as an example of a place that repaired race issues and relationships between police officers and civilians after the riots we had in...I think it was 2002? I don't want to go back to that.

It wasn't a CPD officer though. It was a UC rent a cop. I wonder if the city is going to keep letting them patrol streets around campus after this.

[pixy0stix]

I'll ask again, wtf was a rent a cop doing shooting people? Or even carrying a gun?

[wambam]

Local-ish to me. I am definitely worried about friends who live and work there.

Side note (and I know this is SOOOOOO not the point, but) - I had THE biggest crush on Joe Deters' son when I was in middle school. He didn't like me on account of my vagina, but man, I lurrrrrved him.

[lyssbobiss, Command, B613]

Jul 29, 2015 10:54:04 GMT -5 Cicero said:

Jul 29, 2015 10:47:47 GMT -5 lyssbobiss, Command, B613 said:

They have presumptively closed UC's campus including most of the medical campuses in anticipation of this video being released. Our building is nearby so they've beefed up security and closed some streets as well.

This is really disheartening because Cinti has been held up as an example of a place that repaired race issues and relationships between police officers and civilians after the riots we had in...I think it was 2002? I don't want to go back to that.

It wasn't a CPD officer though. It was a UC rent a cop. I wonder if the city is going to keep letting them patrol streets around campus after this.

You're right about the officer, and I appreciate that you clarified. I predict that the UC police won't be allowed to patrol the surrounding streets following this incident, but that's based on a gut feeling, not any actual evidence.

[lyssbobiss, Command, B613]

Jul 29, 2015 10:54:53 GMT -5 pixy0stix said:

I'll ask again, wtf was a rent a cop doing shooting people? Or even carrying a gun?

Our UC cops are allowed to patrol surrounding streets, or they were until this went down. The story we have been told (without seeing the footage), is that the officer pulled him over and he tried to drive off so the officer was being dragged by the car which is why he shot him. I don't know whether or not guns are standard for campus police patrolling the streets, to be honest.

Of course, this is all hearsay so we will find out today what actually went down between them.

[pixy0stix]

Jul 29, 2015 11:04:35 GMT -5 nursecramer said:

Jul 29, 2015 10:54:53 GMT -5 pixy0stix said:

I'll ask again, wtf was a rent a cop doing shooting people? Or even carrying a gun?

I'm not sure what you mean by rent a cop. Many universities (including UC) have a police department that has the same law enforcement authority that city and county PDs have.

You are so literal.

[FloFTW]

What is even meant by "not good"?

[compassrose]

Jul 29, 2015 11:00:15 GMT -5 lyssbobiss, Command, B613 said:

Jul 29, 2015 10:54:53 GMT -5 pixy0stix said:

I'll ask again, wtf was a rent a cop doing shooting people? Or even carrying a gun?

Our UC cops are allowed to patrol surrounding streets, or they were until this went down. The story we have been told (without seeing the footage), is that the officer pulled him over and he tried to drive off so the officer was being dragged by the car which is why he shot him. I don't know whether or not guns are standard for campus police patrolling the streets, to be honest.

Of course, this is all hearsay so we will find out today what actually went down between them.

Hopefully, in the long term, the UC police will have to follow the same policies that have made the Cincy police turnaround so successful (transparency, helping vs. arresting for very minor charges, communicatoin and involvement with the community).  In the mean time, though, I agree that they will probably be restricted to campus in the short term.

[Cicero]

I don't understand taking offense to the calling of a private police force neither paid for nor supervised by the city rent a cops. They have no business patrolling the public streets of a city that does not employ them.

[Elsa]

NC is correct here- according to UC's police department website these are officers that have received the same amount of training that CPD officers have. They would have the same authority that they have as well.

I do think its important that this is known... I think emphasizing that this is yet ANOTHER situation where a police officer committed a murder is important. I guess I see calling this man a rent-a-cop makes it appear that there is an issue with the lack of training that this individual had, versus noting that since he was a fully trained officer that this happened because he's a massive fucking racist asshole.

[Elsa]

Jul 29, 2015 11:34:01 GMT -5 Cicero said:

I don't understand taking offense to the calling of a private police force neither paid for nor supervised by the city rent a cops. They have no business patrolling the public streets of a city that does not employ them.

Except that - at least at all the 4 campuses I have worked at- technically they DO have this right. They are police officers that have been through the exact same training that your other city officers have been through. They just focus more on a college campus, which comes with its own issues and is a full time job (drunk students in dorms, students showing up drunk to class, irrational and angry students, etc, etc, etc).

But they still have the ability and job to patrol the surrounding streets. Campuses don't live in bubbles....the safer the surrounding streets are, the safer the campus is. So many (most?) campus police departments do patrol the areas surrounding campus, and assist the city that the university is in with keeping the area safe.
That being said. He was completely, unarguably wrong to have shot this poor man. No doubt about that at all.

[sangria]

What does it say that I'm having a hard time remembering which shooting/killing of a black person goes with which location/date/event?

[Cicero]

Jul 29, 2015 11:34:35 GMT -5 Elsa said:

NC is correct here- according to UC's police department website these are officers that have received the same amount of training that CPD officers have. They would have the same authority that they have as well.

I do think its important that this is known... I think emphasizing that this is yet ANOTHER situation where a police officer committed a murder is important. I guess I see calling this man a rent-a-cop makes it appear that there is an issue with the lack of training that this individual had, versus noting that since he was a fully trained officer that this happened because he's a massive fucking racist asshole.

Same authority on campus. And SOME of the same authority for a few blocks off of it. It's not the exact same thing and it's not the city's police department.

The distinction between the two departments is incredibly important in the context of what Cincinnati has done in the decade since the riots. The city has cleaned up its act. The CPD has changed and is incredibly transparent. Comunity relations have changed. Then these cocksuckers in Clifton* go and do something like this.

*Cleary I've had contact with them in the past and do not have a high opinion of them as a result. Take that bias for what you will.

[Cicero]

Jul 29, 2015 11:39:01 GMT -5 Elsa said:

Jul 29, 2015 11:34:01 GMT -5 Cicero said:

I don't understand taking offense to the calling of a private police force neither paid for nor supervised by the city rent a cops. They have no business patrolling the public streets of a city that does not employ them.

Except that - at least at all the 4 campuses I have worked at- technically they DO have this right. They are police officers that have been through the exact same training that your other city officers have been through. They just focus more on a college campus, which comes with its own issues and is a full time job (drunk students in dorms, students showing up drunk to class, irrational and angry students, etc, etc, etc).

But they still have the ability and job to patrol the surrounding streets. Campuses don't live in bubbles....the safer the surrounding streets are, the safer the campus is. So many (most?) campus police departments do patrol the areas surrounding campus, and assist the city that the university is in with keeping the area safe.
That being said. He was completely, unarguably wrong to have shot this poor man. No doubt about that at all.

Yes, they do have the right as per an agreement with the city of Cincinnati and probably Blue Ash if we're talking about Raymond Walters. That agreement should not exist.

[Cicero]

Jul 29, 2015 11:51:29 GMT -5 nursecramer said:

Jul 29, 2015 11:34:35 GMT -5 Elsa said:

NC is correct here- according to UC's police department website these are officers that have received the same amount of training that CPD officers have. They would have the same authority that they have as well.

I do think its important that this is known... I think emphasizing that this is yet ANOTHER situation where a police officer committed a murder is important. I guess I see calling this man a rent-a-cop makes it appear that there is an issue with the lack of training that this individual had, versus noting that since he was a fully trained officer that this happened because he's a massive fucking racist asshole.

Exactly. And implying that a police departments on a university campus is somehow less than a city's police department absolves them of the responsibility they have to make sure this shit doesn't happen. So a better question than "what's a rent a cop doing..." is: why didn't the UC PD get on board with the reforms made by the CPD?

But the answer to your question is because they are rent a cops--a private and seperate entity neither paid by nor responsible to the city.

Were they like the CPD this wouldn't be an issue.

ETA: since I'm ranting anyway, I will clarify and say that it isn't an issue with training. It's an issue with that department. Cincinnatians call them rent a cops because of the way they operate off by themselves doing whatever the Hell they want. This particular dearest really should not be patrolling city streets.

[meshaliuknits]

Jul 29, 2015 11:51:53 GMT -5 pennypenny said:

My issue with calling them rent-a-cops is that they are not armed security like Wackenhut or similar. They are actual police. I don't know the details of their jurisdiction, but the level of training they get is the same as CPD or any other university with a police department.

That's exactly what I think of when I hear rent a cop. Well, that and Paul Blart.

[pixy0stix]

In general, I find campus police useless. Their reach and scope varies so much within each institution/state that it's hard to determine where their authority ends. As such you get the campus cops that far overreach their power. They also tend to be subject to their own rules within their department, and not those of the surrounding police force. Sure, they might have the same training, but they're still not the same.

[lyssbobiss, Command, B613]

There was an indictment. That's all I know yet. Prosecutor is really laying into the guy and the footage is about to be released.

[EnchantedSoul]

Officer indicted for murder.

[Deleted]

Jul 29, 2015 10:55:18 GMT -5 wambam said:

Local-ish to me. I am definitely worried about friends who live and work there.

You're worried about your black friends? Or you're worried about someone else?

[wambam]

Jul 29, 2015 12:13:59 GMT -5 @wandering said:

Jul 29, 2015 10:55:18 GMT -5 wambam said:

Local-ish to me. I am definitely worried about friends who live and work there.

You're worried about your black friends? Or you're worried about someone else?

I'm concerned about the possibility of violence in the city when the footage is released. Worried for people of all races.

I feel like this is a trick question.

[Deleted]

Jul 29, 2015 12:15:18 GMT -5 wambam said:

Jul 29, 2015 12:13:59 GMT -5 @wandering said:

You're worried about your black friends? Or you're worried about someone else?

I'm concerned about the possibility of violence in the city when the footage is released. Worried for people of all races.

I feel like this is a trick question.

No, not a trick question. I just wasn't sure if you were worried about your black friends due to another unarmed black man getting killed or worried about people in general. I hadn't heard about violence and haven't been following super closely, so I wasn't sure what you meant. 

[wambam]

Jul 29, 2015 12:19:24 GMT -5 @wandering said:

Jul 29, 2015 12:15:18 GMT -5 wambam said:

I'm concerned about the possibility of violence in the city when the footage is released. Worried for people of all races.

I feel like this is a trick question.

No, not a trick question. I just wasn't sure if you were worried about your black friends due to another unarmed black man getting killed or worried about people in general. I hadn't heard about violence and haven't been following super closely, so I wasn't sure what you meant. 

Cincinnati in particular has a history of violence due to race relations.