US officer pleads not guilty to murder
July 31, 2015
Ray Tensing, 25, has pleaded not guilty to murder and voluntary manslaughter charges for the July 19 death of Samuel DuBose during what started out as a routine traffic stop.
At a Thursday court hearing, Judge Megan Shanahan set a $1 million (915,000 euro) bond for Tensing. Some people in the courtroom applauded when the bond was set - the judge ordered them to stop.
Tensing had been a campus police officer at the University of Cincinnati in Ohio. He had pulled over DuBose, 43, for a missing front license plate but ended up shooting him in the head, telling investigators he feared for his life after the man tried to drive away, dragging the officer with him.
On Wednesday, prosecutors released footage from Tensing's body camera. Hamilton County Prosecutor Joseph Deters dismissed the officer's version of events and questioned why Tensing tried to stop DuBose from leaving in the first place.
"If he started rolling away, seriously, let him go. You don't have to shoot him in the head," Deters told reporters.
DuBose's family has said he would have been dismissed as just "one other stereotype," of a violent black man were it not for the body camera video.
The incident is the latest in a long line of fatal police confrontations in the United States which have raised concerns about law enforcement's treatment of minorities.
Officers on administrative leave
Two University of Cincinnati campus police officers who responded to the shooting were placed on administrative leave on Thursday.
The prosecutors' office released video from their body cameras showing the immediate aftermath. A spokesperson from the university said officers Phillip Kidd and David Lindenschmidt were "placed on paid administrative leave because an internal investigation is now underway."
The city's police union on Thursday objected to the way in which Deters and others had responded to the incident.
"People who watch an encounter on video using the slow motion setting to determine what happened have a luxury that police on the street don't," Bruce Szilagyi, chairman of the Fraternal Order of Police said in a statement quoted by AFP.
Tensing was fired from his police job on Wednesday, when he was indicted on the murder and voluntary manslaughter charges. If convicted he faces up to life in prison. The next court date was set for August 19.
se/lw (AFP, Reuters, AP)