Officer Tensing Pleads Not Guilty in ‘Asinine’ Cincinnati Motorist Shooting; Bail Set at $1M

As reported here yesterday, Cincinnati has been battening down the hatches in preparation for protests and possible riots in the shooting death of Sam DuBose, 43, by former University of Cincinnati campus police officer Ray Tensing, 25.

The university did cancel classes and businesses closed early, some boarding up windows, ahead of the announcement by the grand jury which found enough evidence to seek a murder charge against Tensing.

DuBose, who was unarmed at the time, was pulled over because his car did not have a front license plate. Officer Tensing’s body cam video has now been released (see below), showing how quickly a random traffic stop for something as piddly as not having a license plate on the front of a vehicle turns deadly in the modern American police state.

Only minutes passed before Tensing pulled his firearm and shot DuBose in the head at point blank range, killing him instantly. DuBose was pronounced dead at the scene. Tensing claimed it was because he was being dragged by the vehicle as DuBose was trying to flee the scene, but the body cam video, to paraphrase Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters, shows an entirely different story:

“He purposely killed him. He should have never been a police officer,” Deters said while announcing the murder indictment. “I’ve been doing this for over 30 years. This is the most asinine act I’ve ever seen a police officer make — totally unwarranted. It’s an absolute tragedy in the year 2015 that anyone would behave in this manner. It was senseless…”

The body cam video below shows Tensing attempting to open DuBose’s car door after DuBose refused to hand over his driver’s license. While the two struggle over the door, DuBose starts his car. Tensing then shoots DuBose in the head and kills him.

You have to ask yourself, if a police officer pulled you over for something as simple as a missing front license plate and acted this aggressively about it, would you want to get out of your vehicle or let the officer open your car door?

Amazingly, one of the journalists in the press conference above asks Prosecutor Deters what Tensing was supposed to do in this situation. Watch Deters reaction in the video above. “He wasn’t dealing with someone wanted for murder. He was dealing with someone without a front license plate,” Deters says. It’s just a front license plate, which Tensing already had a record of. Tensing could’ve just let him go. DuBose didn’t deserve to be shot in the head and killed over it.

Deters referred to the pull over as a “chicken crap stop”. Nice to see someone in a position of authority with a modicum of common sense.

Tensing plead not guilty today and his bond was set at one million dollars. His next court date is set for August 19th.

Below is Tensing’s body cam video. Watch the evidence for yourself.

WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT.