In what seems like a recurring nightmare, another police officer walked out of a courtroom a free man after the fatal shooting of an unarmed Black civilian. Former officer of the University of Cincinnati Police Department Ray Tensing was in court last week for the July 2015 fatal shooting of 43-year-old Samuel DuBose after a routine traffic stop, but on Saturday (November 12), after 25 hours of deliberation, Hamilton County Judge Megan Shanahan declared a mistrial after jurors failed to come to a unanimous decision.
Tensing, 26, was facing either a murder or involuntary manslaughter charge. On Friday (November 11), jurors told Shanahan they couldn’t make a decision and she retorted they had enough evidence to develop one and keep working. However, no conclusion was reached.
This isn’t necessarily the end. Tensing could still serve jail time. Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters said the jury was leaning toward a voluntary manslaughter conviction and an acquittal on the murder charge, but because they couldn’t determine the outcome, he’ll have to decide within the next two weeks whether to try the case again.
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The confusion stems from DuBose’s actions. After being pulled over for missing a front license plate, he reportedly tried to drive off. The prosecution said evidence, including Tensing’s body camera video, contradicted his story of being dragged by DuBose’s car.
“The video is the ultimate witness … this video exposes Tensing’s lies,” Deters said, according to CBS News. He also said Tensing and his lawyer became “almost comical with their word games,” when defense attorney Stewart Mathews called the shooting death of DuBose “stopping the threat” and saying he “perceived to be dragged.” Mathews insisted Tensing was trying to keep from being run over.
“He was in sheer terror,” Mathews told jurors. “The evidence is very clear that a car can be just as deadly as a gun or knife.”
See It: The complete Samuel Dubose video unedited.
Tensing wept on the stand Tuesday (November 8) and explained he was “often unaware of a driver’s race, did not single people out unfairly and wasn’t racist.” Witnesses testified DuBose had a large amount of marijuana and cash on him, which Mathews speculated was the reason he was trying to flee.
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Interestingly enough, there was an outside report that claimed eight out of every 10 drivers that Tensing pulled over for traffic stops were Black, the highest rate of any University of Cincinnati officer.
“You can just look into my eyes right now and see that it is really hurting to know that my daddy’s not coming back,” DuBose Reid sobbed to WCPO.
“We are hurt. Hurt is turning to our strength and our will to go on and make sure that we get justice. Because we’re not going to give up.”
