Officer Ray Tensing (left) and victim Samuel Dubose (right)
Cincinnati, OH — Officer Ray Tensing of the University of Cincinnati Police Department has been indicted after recently released video from his body camera shows that he shot and killed Samuel DuBose, a 43-year-old unarmed black man during a calm exchange during a traffic stop.
In the video, Officer Tensing is repeatedly asking Dubose about why he doesn’t have his license, and DuBose does not appear to be belligerent or aggressive toward Tensing at all. Suddenly, Officer Tensing fires a shot at DuBose striking him in the head, and then the vehicle starts to roll. Authorities say that is significant because Officer Tensing initially said that he was being dragged by the vehicle.
Tensing’s lawyer, however, says that Tensing was afraid for his life and fell down as the car was moving.
Hamilton County prosecutor Joe Deters called the fatal shooting “the most asinine act I’ve ever seen a police officer make.”
He added, “He wasn’t dealing with someone who was wanted for murder, OK? He was dealing with someone who didn’t have a front license plate. I mean, this is, in the vernacular, a pretty chicken-crap stop, all right? And — I could use harsher words.”
He then said that even if Dubose was starting to “roll away,” the officer should have just let him go. “I mean, you don’t have to shoot him in the head. And that’s what happened.”
Dubose, who was initially pulled over for having a missing front license plate, was a father of 12 children and was engaged to be married.
Hadassah Thomas, a friend and neighbor, told the reporters: “Everybody in the community loved Sam. He was so helpful, and he was always around. He used to baby-sit for my daughter.
Watch the footage below: