CINCINNATI — During a National Police Week breakfast event for law enforcement, Vice President JD Vance blamed the death of Hamilton County Sheriff's Deputy Larry Henderson on American leadership.
Henderson died on May 2 after Rodney Hinton Jr. allegedly crashed a vehicle into him while Henderson was working a traffic detail at the University of Cincinnati spring commencement. One day before, Rodney Hinton Jr.'s son, 18-year-old Ryan Hinton, was shot and killed by a Cincinnati police officer.
WCPO obtained video from CNN of Vance's speech at the event, where he said he first heard about the case from his wife, Usha Vance.
"A few weeks ago I guess a man was killed by a police officer," said Vance during the Wednesday morning breakfast. "The police officer, the body cam footage showed was totally justified. He was doing his job and keeping the people of Cincinnati safe."
The shooting death of Ryan Hinton by a yet-unnamed Cincinnati police officer is still actively under investigation by the Citizen Complaint Authority and the Hamilton County Prosecutor's Office; there have not been any official rulings about whether the shooting was justified or not.
RELATED: What we know about the deaths of 18-year-old Ryan Hinton and deputy Larry Henderson
Cincinnati police showed the body camera footage from the shooting to both the public and Ryan Hinton's family on the morning of May 2, just hours before Rodney allegedly crashed into Henderson.
The body camera footage was brief and blurry; Cincinnati Police Chief Teresa Theetge said Ryan was hit by two bullets — one that went through his arm and into his side, and one that went through his chest and out his back. WCPO has requested all body camera footage from all officers at the scene that day, along with Ryan Hinton's full autopsy report. We have not yet received it.
Hear Vance's full remarks below:
At the breakfast with a few dozen attendees, Vance went on to recount some of the events that happened on May 1 and May 2, speculating to his audience that the shooting that killed Ryan Hinton made Rodney start to hate police, or that Rodney already hated police before his son was killed.
"(Henderson) was helping people at the University of Cincinnati when he was mowed down by a bloodthirsty criminal who exacted revenge for something a police officer was actually legally entitled to do," said Vance.
Vance called Henderson's alleged murder "senseless" and said while Rodney Hinton Jr. should certainly be the person on which blame is placed, he also pointed his finger elsewhere.
"Obviously you've got to place blame on the guy who committed the crime, but I also think a lot of the blame falls on American leadership who for too long have made our police officers out to be enemies instead of the great public servants that all of us know that they are," said Vance.
The vice president did not clarify what American leadership he felt was to blame, nor did he name any specific people. He went on to say that "from the president on down," the current administration is in support of law enforcement.
Vance concluded that part of his speech by thanking the law enforcement in attendance and vowing to them that President Donald Trump's administration would provide "moral leadership" just as much as "public policy."
