CINCINNATI -- A pretrial hearing was held Tuesday morning for a former University of Cincinnati police officer charged with murder in the fatal shooting of a motorist during a traffic stop.
Ray Tensing also is charged with voluntary manslaughter in the death of Samuel DuBose. Tensing was not present at the brief hearing with attorneys. The defense is still waiting for DuBose's medical records to be released.
Sam DuBose
Tensing has pleaded not guilty in the July 19 shooting in Cincinnati's Mount Auburn neighborhood. His trial is scheduled for Oct. 24.
Tensing's attorney has said his client feared being dragged under the car as DuBose tried to drive away. He'd pulled DuBose over near campus for a missing front license plate.
The shooting came amid increased national attention on how police treat black suspects. DuBose was black; Tensing is white.
Former University of Cincinnati Police Chief Jason Goodrich was behind a push in off-campus traffic stops like the one that resulted DuBose's death last summer, but he failed to take ownership of the strategy after that shooting, according to a report from an independent firm UC hired to evaluate its police department.
Before Goodrich's arrival, the University of Cincinnati Police Department was averaging 86.5 stops per month. After he became chief, that more than tripled to an average of 271.5 per month, the independent investigators found.
Goodrich "misrepresented his knowledge" about the stops to both UC administrators and the investigators, according to the report. Former UCPD Maj. Tim Thornton also “was less than truthful” with the investigators and concealed his knowledge of the off-campus traffic stops, the report said.
In January, DuBose’s family agreed to a settlement with the university for $4.85 million and free tuition for his children. A judge heard arguments last month on how to fairly distribute the proceeds of that settlement after nearly two-dozen people filed claims on the estate.
