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| Sam DuBose : "upset and depressed" |
"I wouldn't be surprised if there is an indictment, I wouldn't be surprised if there isn't an indictment, but I think it's more likely there will be an indictment," attorney Stew Mathews told WCPO on Tuesday.
Mathews said Officer Ray Tensing is "upset and depressed" about shooting 43-year-old Sam DuBose at a traffic stop and revealed some details about Tensing's body cam video that has been withheld from the public during the ongoing investigation.
"He told me what happened. We went over the tape together," Mathews said, referring to the fatal encounter in Mount Auburn on July 19.
Mathews said the video shows a struggle as DuBose refuses to provide a driver's license or get out of the car. He added that it's similar to a body cam video of Tensing making a different traffic stop just a few weeks ago.
That one, aired by WCPO Monday, showed a suspect being handcuffed while sitting in his vehicle. But in the DuBose case, there was a different reaction, Mathews said.
"Sam DuBose didn't like being told to step out of the vehicle," Mathews said.
Suddenly, Tensing is being thrown off the car onto the ground, Mathews said, followed by a gunshot. He didn't elaborate.
"These guys are running. It's jumpy. If you slow it down, you can see what's going on," Mathews said.
In addition, there is body cam video from another UC officer that shows "something" of the Tensing-DuBose confrontation, Mathews said.
Mathews would not discuss anything else in the Tensing video, saying he's waiting for Prosecutor Joe Deters to release it.
Responding to a public records request, UC police recently provided WCPO with tapes from seven June stops by Tensing. All involved encounters with black motorists.
WCPO showed the tapes to retired Cincinnati Police Sgt. Mike Gardner, who trained officers at the Cincinnati Police Academy, and Gardner did not find fault with Tensing's actions in those cases.
Tensing is sorry about the shooting, his attorney said.
"He's not doing well. He feels terrible about it. He didn't become a police officer to go out and shoot anyone," Mathews said.
Mathews represented other officers in three previous police shootings. None ever faced charges.
One case involved a UC officer who shot and killed Lorenzo Collins in 1997. Collins had walked off from the lockdown psychiatric unit at University Hospital and was threatening officers with a brick. They ordered him to drop it, but he didn't. A minute later, a UC officer and a Cincinnati officer shot Collins. The shootings were ruled justified.
The other cases involved officers from Springdale and Colerain Township.
Mathews said the Ohio Fraternal Order of Police contacted him Sunday and asked him to represent Tensing.
According to the UC police incident report , Tensing said he stopped DuBose, who was unarmed, because his car did not have a front license plate. Tensing said DuBose started to pull away from the stop and dragged Tensing with his car, the report says. Tensing said he feared he would be run over and fired one shot, hitting DuBose in the head.
DuBose's family and supporters dispute the police account and have demanded to see Tensing's body cam video. WCPO and other media outlets have sued Deters to release the video, but Deters has refused, saying the video could taint the ongoing investigation.
Deters said he would release the video after the grand jury sees it and decides whether or not to indict Tensing. That should happen by the end of the week, Deters said.
DuBose was buried Tuesday. After the funeral, DuBose's sister repeated the family's call to see the body cam video.
"I'm so upset about them not letting us see the video," Terina DuBose Allen said. "My brother wasn't violent. He never resisted arrest. I have to assume the cop killed my brother. If they don't want me to believe that, then show us the video."
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