FuzzyLumpkins
07-31-2015, 04:33 PM
http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Justice/2015/0730/Cincinnati-shooting-tests-blue-wall-of-silence-video
As a growing number of police departments are equipping officers with digital body cameras, the so-called blue wall of silence, the unwritten rule that officers never speak ill of one another to outsiders, is being tested perhaps like never before. The police-involved shooting in Cincinnati – and specifically, the role of two officers who may have lied about what happened to their colleague – is a case in point.
Ray Tensing, who was a University of Cincinnati police officer until this week, appeared at his first court hearing Thursday after being indicted for murder and voluntary manslaughter in the death of an unarmed motorist on July 19. He pleaded not guilty.
In the case, Mr. Tensing, who is white, alleges that Samuel DuBose, a black man who had been stopped for a missing front license plate, put his life in danger by starting the car, which began to roll forward. The officer said he feared he was going to get pulled under the car.
His account is corroborated by testimony from two other officers. In a report written the day after the shooting, they said that Tensing had small injuries that supported his assertion that he was somehow dragged.
But prosecutors say Tensing’s body camera suggests another scenario. In the video, Mr. DuBose is starting the car and slowly rolling away when Tensing appears to suddenly fire a single shot. Tensing, officials say, fell backward after firing his gun, causing some scuffs on his shirt and pants. DuBose appears nonconfrontational in the video.
As a growing number of police departments are equipping officers with digital body cameras, the so-called blue wall of silence, the unwritten rule that officers never speak ill of one another to outsiders, is being tested perhaps like never before. The police-involved shooting in Cincinnati – and specifically, the role of two officers who may have lied about what happened to their colleague – is a case in point.
Ray Tensing, who was a University of Cincinnati police officer until this week, appeared at his first court hearing Thursday after being indicted for murder and voluntary manslaughter in the death of an unarmed motorist on July 19. He pleaded not guilty.
In the case, Mr. Tensing, who is white, alleges that Samuel DuBose, a black man who had been stopped for a missing front license plate, put his life in danger by starting the car, which began to roll forward. The officer said he feared he was going to get pulled under the car.
His account is corroborated by testimony from two other officers. In a report written the day after the shooting, they said that Tensing had small injuries that supported his assertion that he was somehow dragged.
But prosecutors say Tensing’s body camera suggests another scenario. In the video, Mr. DuBose is starting the car and slowly rolling away when Tensing appears to suddenly fire a single shot. Tensing, officials say, fell backward after firing his gun, causing some scuffs on his shirt and pants. DuBose appears nonconfrontational in the video.