Ohio has a long history of the police murdering, assaulting, intimidating and arresting citizens for minor “crimes.” Ohio has hosted as many federal police misconduct investigations as New York state even though Ohio has 26,000 officers compared to New York’s 66,000.
The only state that’s hosted more federal police misconduct investigations than Ohio is California – and the state has 80,000 officers! It’s no surprise then that corrupt Ohio officers routinely murder civilians, many of whom are Black, Latino or members of other oppressed communities.
Ohio police brutality is already perhaps the worst in the country and it will only escalate under a Trump administration that has as its Attorney General Jeff Sessions. On April 3, Sessions ordered the Justice Department to review consent decrees, stating they “can reduce moral of the police officers.” Consent decrees were instilled in the 1994 crime bill after the beating of Rodney King in Los Angeles.
The purpose of consent decrees is to hold local police accountable for their brutal actions and misconduct. What Sessions wants is to loosen the federal investigative measures placed on local police departments. Sessions wants less accountability and freer rein for the police to attack and brutalize people.
It’s no coincidence that that country’s largest police association, the Fraternal Order of Police, endorsed Trump. The FOP’s national president Chuck Canterbury stated, “Trump has seriously looked at the issues facing law enforcement today. He understands and supports our priorities and our members believe he will make America safe again. He’s made a real commitment to America’s law enforcement and we’re proud to make a commitment to him and his campaign by endorsing his candidacy today.” In other words, the FOP endorsed Trump because they knew he’d bypass consent decrees leading to looser restrictions on the police.
Cincinnati cops’ killing spree
One city that has seen multiple murders by trigger happy police is Cincinnati. The Cincinnati Police Department has been riddled with controversy throughout the years. In 1999, a Cincinnati police supervisor was accused of trying to cover up for officers in two police shootings. Timothy Thomas was murdered by Cincinnati police officer Stephen Roach in 2001, triggering the largest rebellion since the Los Angeles Uprising. Thomas had been harassed for months prior to his murder and accumulated 14 nonviolent offenses, of which 12 were traffic citations.
The Cincinnati Police Department was forced into a consent decree after this murder. It took seven years for them to come into compliance with the consent decree.
In 2011, 16-year-old Davon Mullins was murdered by Officer Oscar Cyranek. Surveillance video shows the officer disarming the teen, killing him, then planting the disarmed gun near his body afterwards. The family filed a lawsuit against the Cincinnati Police Department but that lawsuit was later dismissed by a federal judge.
David “Bones” Herbert was murdered by police in 2011 which led to a lawsuit against four officers. The city later admitted wrongdoing and a settlement was agreed to in the amount of $187,500. Quandavier Hicks was murdered by police in his own home in 2015, spurring another lawsuit by his family which claims Hicks’ constitutional rights were violated as police entered his home and killed him. The family is asking for compensatory damages in excess of $25,000, punitive damages, as well as court and attorney fees.
Justice for Sam DuBose!
The recent murder of Sam DuBose by University of Cincinnati Officer Ray Tensing has made national news. Officer Tensing’s body camera shows him killing Sam DuBose as he attempted to drive away from the dangerous cop. DuBose was pulled over for not having a front license plate and had a history of being harassed by police. He was pulled over more than 50 times and paid more than $12,000 in fines for minor traffic offenses over the years.
The killer cop, Ray Tensing, has already been tried once, which ended in a hung jury. The day of the murder, he was wearing a confederate flag shirt that the judge, Leslie Ghiz, has removed as evidence. Two UC officers, Phillip Kidd and David Lindenschmidt, who were the first to arrive on the scene after the murder, are under fire from community members because they corroborated Tensing’s story to UCPD officials, yet the body camera audio tells a different story.
The murder of Sam DuBose has sparked outrage in Cincinnati. Black Lives Matter Cincinnati has led the call for justice for Sam. In June 2017, 300 people gathered at a BLM rally in Inwood Park to hear speakers talk about the murder.
John D’Alessandro a BLM member spoke at the rally linking white supremacy to a University of Cincinnati police state:
“As socialists, we see the root causes of injustice is the profitability of the university’s white supremacy. The fact that their money comes from advertising in a gentrified Clifton and a police state campus. We also see that the real power lies with the people, us and that by using this power we can fight back against racist institutions to make sure Ray Tensing is convicted.”
When asked if it was odd that the judge is removing the confederate flag shirt Ray Tensing wore the day of the murder as evidence, D’Alessandro stated “It’s absolutely racist … they haven’t dismissed evidence in the car which has nothing to do with the murder but they are dismissing the shirt because the judge, Leslie Ghiz doesn’t want to bring race into it. It’s clearly a racially motivated crime.”
Kenny, a Cincinnati Resident, spoke with Liberation News stating, “It ain’t fair for the Blacks to get killed, I just don’t understand how the police that knew [the cop who shot DuBose] did wrong won’t stand up and say I won’t go to work if I got to work with a guy like this.” When asked why officers cover for each other Kenny stated “I think its racism and job security. I think he killed him on accident and then lied and got busted in his lie so then he’s got to keep going on with the lie to make it seem like he fears for his life. Dude was driving away, he wasn’t in no danger at all.”
Grace Cunningham, the founder of Students for Survivors and a student at the University of Cincinnati, spoke at the recent Debose rally about the lack of accountability by UC officials:
“Kidd and Lindenschmidt, the two officers who corroborated Tensing’s story, are still on the police force patrolling campus. If they are willing to lie about a murder, I’m sure they are willing to lie about someone’s use of tobacco” which is referencing UC policy that prohibits faculty and staff form using tobacco on campus and can lead to termination. “Just like UC is complacent in systems of oppression, so is our criminal injustice system. This system was not created to deliver justice, it is an extension of slavery created to maintain white power and wealth. The system is not here to protect us, we see time and time again killer cops walking free getting paid vacation for committing murder. There is no justice for the Black and Brown lives lost at the hands of the state.”
As is the case across the country, the people of Ohio will continue to resist police brutality and murder and demand that officers be held to account for their racist crimes.
