Ohio officer is indicted in shooting of motorist

CINCINNATI - A University of Cincinnati officer who shot a motorist during a traffic stop over a missing front license plate was indicted Wednesday on a murder charge, with a prosecutor saying the officer "purposely killed him" and "should never have been a police officer."

Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters announced the grand jury indictment at a news conference to discuss developments in the investigation into the July 19 shooting of unarmed motorist Samuel DuBose, 43, by Officer Ray Tensing.

Authorities have said Tensing spotted a car driven by DuBose and missing the front license plate, which is required by Ohio law. They say Tensing stopped the car and a struggle ensued after DuBose refused to provide a driver's license and get out of the car.

Tensing, 25, has said he was dragged by the car and forced to shoot at DuBose. He fired once, striking DuBose in the head.

But Deters dismissed Tensing's claim that he was dragged by the car and suggested that he shouldn't have pulled DuBose over to begin with.

"He fell backward after he shot [DuBose] in the head," Deters said, adding that it was a "chicken crap" traffic stop.

On footage released from the body-camera video Wednesday, the officer could be heard asking for DuBose's driver's license several times with DuBose at one point saying he had one. Later, DuBose said, "But I don't think I have it on me."

Tensing asks DuBose to unbuckle his seat belt. About that time Tensing pulls on the door handle, and DuBose puts his hand on the door to keep it closed. Then the video becomes shaky, but a gunshot can be heard and DuBose appears to be slumped in the seat before the car rolls away, coming to stop at a nearby corner.

The University of Cincinnati said it fired Tensing after his indictment. Tensing turned himself in Wednesday afternoon at the Hamilton County Justice Center and was processed on charges of murder and voluntary manslaughter.

Tensing's attorney, Stewart Mathews, didn't return phone messages seeking comment after the indictment announcement.

Mathews said earlier Wednesday that he thought an indictment was likely "given the political climate" and comments made by city officials. But Mathews said that given the evidence he's seen, he doesn't believe there should be an indictment.

DuBose's death comes amid months of national scrutiny of police dealings with African Americans, especially those killed by officers. DuBose was black. Tensing is white. Authorities haven't indicated whether race was a part of the investigation.

Body-camera video of the shooting was also released Wednesday. DuBose's family had been pressing for its release, and news organizations had sued Deters to get it released under Ohio open-records law, but Deters released it before any ruling had been made.

Deters called the shooting "senseless" and "asinine."

"He purposely killed him," Deters said. "He should never have been a police officer."

The prosecutor also said he thought it was time to reconsider the UC police department's role.

"I don't think a university should be in the policing business," Deters said.

Across wide swaths of America, drivers aren't required

to display a front license plate on their passenger cars. But

it's different in Ohio, where a motorist was fatally shot in Cincinnati during a traffic stop prompted by his failure to display a front plate.

None of Ohio's border states require two plates. But 34 states and U.S. territories do, mostly in the Northeast and the West.

State legislatures that write license-plate laws constantly debate the front-plate issue. States without a requirement, such as Michigan, contemplate adding one - citing evidence that the front plate is a useful tool for law enforcement.

Meanwhile, states requiring the front plate talk of scrapping the mandate as a cost savings to drivers. Ohio legislators raised the issue again as recently as this year, though it didn't go anywhere.

Few front-plate laws have changed in recent years, said Anne Teigen, program principal at the nonpartisan National Conference of State Legislatures over transportation and criminal justice.

According to a database maintained by the group, 19 states - including Ohio neighbors Indiana, Michigan, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Kentucky - require only a single plate. - AP

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