UC police fail to apprehend this person despite the incident occurring in the middle of campus, with cameras all over the place:

http://www.wcpo.com/news/education/higher-education/uc-news/shots-fired-on-university-of-cincinnati-campus

 

Also, no follow-up at all to the shooting at the Shell station two Fridays ago, which did not prompt a lock-down, as it was a solid 50 feet off-campus. 

 

My theory is this was either a routine mugging or some kid trying to buy weed, and the mugger/dealer pulled out his gun for intimidation purposes and accidentally shot it due to a lack of trigger discipline. One shot was fired, allegedly up into the air, and then the guy ran off. Really it was nowhere near as big a deal as the shooting at Shell, but as you said it was on campus instead of across the street so it resulted in an overblown lockdown, which got national attention.

Chief Whalen was on 700WLW just now...somehow this criminal mastermind has eluded a professional police force that has hundreds of cameras within a 1,000 foot radius of this incident. 

^ It's surprising that they haven't released a single security tape or image of the suspect. He has to have been on dozens of cameras in one way or another.

 

In an updated article, it looks like the latter theory I mentioned above is looking promising:

 

http://www.wlwt.com/article/uc-students-head-back-to-class-after-shot-fired-incic/6808911

The police are either staying quiet in the hopes of taking down a dozen people or they totally blew it. 

Every time I drive through there it makes me nervous. With the speed people are going, the crazy parking, and students crossing wherever they please... its a wonder more pedestrians are not hit.

 

Is it really any different than much of downtown? 

 

Nope, not at all. I hate driving both Vine and Main between Central and Liberty, especially on the weekends. Although at least the traffic on Vine is much slower than Taft or Main... I love pedestrians, but in OTR people are constantly jumping out into the road from between parked cars, either trying to look for an opportunity to jaywalk, or to actually jaywalk. It really keeps you on your toes driving down there.

Motorcycles causing traffic problems and running red lights in OTR. Check out this video:

 

Motorcycles causing traffic problems and running red lights in OTR. Check out this video:

 

Up here in Cleveland, it's dirt bikes and ATV's. They are cheap, don't require plates, rarely have working lights, and are used for races or drug trade.

In the video I posted they're running the red light and crossing the streetcar tracks... hmmm, what could go wrong?

That gang was much, much bigger than what is shown on that video.  It was somewhere between 100-200 motorcycles that took 3+ minutes to pass.  They were blocking cross traffic for entire light cycles.

 

If this gang had passed through just one red light camera, the city would have brought in at least $10,000.  If they had passed through 10, it would have been $100,000.  Thanks, COAST. 

Does the City manage any of their own surveillance cameras in downtown or OTR?

 

<a href="http://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/crime/2016/10/23/paintball-drive--targets-couple-otr/92658044/">This article</a> mentions using private business security footage and/or footage from the streetcar to try to identify suspects:

A local business captured part of the incident on its security cameras, but a passing streetcar blocked a clear view of the maroon car. Stone said he hopes surveillance footage from the Cincinnati Bell Connector can lead to the identification of the suspects.

 

I know there are privacy/legal/political issues associated with surveillance cameras managed by the city/police. It just seems weird that instead we are left with a network of privately managed cameras, which are unregulated and not particularly useful to apprehending suspects.

 

<a href="http://www.wcpo.com/news/local-news/hamilton-county/cincinnati/whos-watching-you-from-downtown-cincinnatis-security-cameras">WCPO had an article/video</a> last year about how there are so many surveillance cameras all around downtown, yet the police aren't usually able to use footage from those cameras.

^ I believe the police have several cameras all over OTR and around UC (although those may be UCPD's cameras).

 

Here's an old article stating the police had 118 cameras, and wanted to add 800 more:

 

http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2013/03/05/cincinnati-police-want-1000-public-cameras.html

 

I hardly ever see these cameras discussed in local media. I don't think I've ever seen any actual footage from them. Someone hit my car when I was parked right in front of one of the cameras once, and drove off. I asked the police if they could review the video and they brushed it off.

^thanks for the info.

A follow-up on last week's shooting at UC:

 

http://www.wcpo.com/news/education/higher-education/uc-news/shot-fired-on-university-of-cincinnati-campus-was-related-to-drug-deal-gone-wrong-police-say

amateur

We're already seeing some shenanigans play out in the Tensing trial, as the Joe Deters had to kick out some Black Lives Matter protestors during jury questioning:

 

http://www.wcpo.com/news/local-news/hamilton-county/cincinnati/ray-tensing-trial-opens-with-questioning-of-234-prospective-jurors-in-killing-of-sam-dubose

 

 

I listened to opening arguments for the Ray Tensing trial today.  The defense's case is much stronger than one would expect.  Santa Ono and others are being called to the witness stand to testify that UC ordered its police dept to make tons of trivial traffic stops.  Apparently the context of Tensing's day was very laid-back and so it's not as if his anger was overflowing at the time he pulled over Tensing.  It's all going to come down to how the jury perceives the body camera footage in slow-motion. 

But why was he patrolling in "Little Bethlehem" (as pretty much everyone is calling it now)???? You really have to seek out the streets like Gage, Loth and Rice. It's not like it's that easy to just cruise through there.

 

I always wonder about that. There are other places in Mt. Auburn I could see as more plausible, but not this isolated hill side encampment.

They said he was on E. Hollister, about to cross vine to W. Hollister, then back up to McMillan, when he saw who turned out to be Sam Dubose traveling southbound (downhill) on Vine.  He hit the lights and Dubose turned left onto Thill, then right onto Rice before he stopped the car.  Tensing called for backup while on Thill because the vehicle was "slow to stop", and that's why the backup appears just a few seconds after the shooting. 

 

Unfortunately, if they had showed up just 5 seconds earlier, we'd have a second camera angle, or perhaps Tensing wouldn't have fired his weapon at all. 

Also, the defense is going to claim that that the reason Tensing ran the tags on DuBose was because the car was driven by a man but owned by a woman -- his wife.  His wife might have had an outstanding warrant or something like that, so he would have been justified in pulling him over for that reason besides the missing front tag.

 

However, Tensing's statement to the CPD after the incident completely contradicts the video.  He completely fabricated a bunch of stuff that will be fodder for Deters.  I'm not sure how the defense justifies all that crap, but it's definitely conceivable at this point that Tensing is acquitted, in which case Deters is made to look like an absolute fool. 

 

I think the murder charge will prove to be a mistake by Deters. I don't think there's any way a jury finds Tensing guilty of murder under Ohio law. They might find him guilty of the lesser charge of voluntary manslaughter, but even that is questionable. IMO reckless homicide would have been a more appropriate charge - I think the political pressure got to Deters and drove him to seek the murder charge. But I'm not a lawyer so all I know about this is what I've read in the Ohio Revised Code. I assume I have about the same understanding of these charges as the average juror, though, and at the end of the day the law, as written, is hopefully what they're looking at.

 

I definitely don't think this is as open and shut a case as so many people in Cincinnati seem to think it is, though.

I'm not sure what Tensing said in his statement to CPD during their investigation, but today Deters claimed that he stated that he intended to kill the driver.  If that is what actually came out of his mouth, then Tensing's attempt to construct an excuse for the shooting two days after it occurred but before he had a chance to view the video taken by his own body cam did him much more harm than he could have anticipated.  So the video by itself, as shocking as it is while shown in real-time, might in slow-motion and with a proper context established by the defense for the traffic stop have saved him from murder charges and possibly kept him to a light reckless homicide prison term (the defense seemed to concede that Tensing did do some things he wasn't trained to do like attempt to shut off the ignition, and so is guilty of something).

 

Also, the news today reported that the jurors did not get out of the county vans to actually look at the place.  I'm really familiar with that street from having lived nearby on Mulberry and having photographed Glencoe many times, but I'm sure it's completely foreign to most or all of the jurors.  It's an unusual spot and I don't think you can really familiarize yourself with it with one quick tour in a van. 

 

 

 

Tensing was wearing t-shirt with confederate flag under his police uniform at the time of the shooting:

http://www.wcpo.com/news/local-news/hamilton-county/cincinnati/ray-tensing-was-wearing-a-confederate-flag-t-shirt-under-uniform-when-he-shot-sam-dubose

 

Also, the jury is threatening to walk away from the trial out of fear of being ID'd. 

This trial should be moved out of Cincinnati.

The Enquirer apparently filed a request for all the juror's questionnaire responses, which could then possibly be used to ID them even if their actual names were redacted. I would not be surprised if protestors sought to doxx the jurors if a guilty verdict isn't handed down, and that information would obviously help them. They would also probably try to intimidate them and their families during the trial, which would probably trigger a mistrial and make this whole thing drag on even further.

Looks like the video that was initially so damning to Tensing might actually be his savior.  Not what is shown but rather the audio.  Today the defense argued that because Tensing said "stop! stop!" before he drew his weapon and fired that he perceived that he was in grave danger of being dragged and so there is no way that there can be a conviction on a murder charge. 

I don't know, hopefully Deters can tackle this.  I've watched the video many times, it is just crazy to me why he would ever pull his gun.  The vehicle wasn't even moving yet, and he was holding onto the seatbelt, not being dragged.

 

I guess I don't know what constitutes murder exactly.  Wondering if it will just need to be a manslaughter charge.  He definitely was not dragged, and as soon as he shoots him in the head the car takes off.

CPS is sending students home at some schools in anticipation of rioting following the return of the jury.  Bill Cunningham and former prosecutor Mike Allen predict a not guilty verdict. 

 

So if chaos ensues it's all Joe Deters' fault for charging Tensing with murder.  And why did this all happen?  Because he was able to stage the trial right before the election so that he didn't have to campaign OR his brother, who was on the ballot for county commissioner.  D. JOSEPH Deters lost against Driehaus, so all of this will have been a GOP stunt that backfired. 

The jury is approaching the 10 hour mark of deliberations and still no verdict. I think we could end up with a hung jury and I'm not sure what the reaction would be. Would Deters try again? Try for a lesser charge like reckless homicide? Not prosecute again at all?

The jury is approaching the 10 hour mark of deliberations and still no verdict. I think we could end up with a hung jury and I'm not sure what the reaction would be. Would Deters try again? Try for a lesser charge like reckless homicide? Not prosecute again at all?

 

Apparently they asked everyone to return to the courtroom at 4pm. Not sure if they reached a decision yet.

It looks like non-essential courthouse staff was sent home early, hinting that a verdict may very well be on the way tonight. I've been following this for live updates:

 

https://twitter.com/hashtag/tensingtrial

Jury is coming back tomorrow at 8am.

I'm a bit confused in regards to what constitutes murder and voluntary manslaughter in regards to the intent.

 

You can tell Tensing was frustrated and annoyed and getting mad at DuBose in the video when DuBose wasn't giving him his license. That is when he tried to open the door. DuBose then started the car, Tensing grabbed the wheel, the car probably rolled slightly if at all, then Tensing grabbed the seatbelt and killed him. You can tell in the video the car hadn't moved at all until after DuBose was killed.

 

So what would be the intent? What if the jury says he was obviously ticked off at DuBose and getting short fused and being an A-Hole, made tactical errors by trying to open the door then pulled his gun out and killed him because of his 1.) Frustration leading to tactical error leading to tactical error after freaking out

 

Would that constitute murder? Did Deters mention anything at all about his apparent frustration and annoyance with DuBose that he wouldn't give up his ID? That could have been any one in that car that day

 

Would that constitute murder?

 

No.  This is all about Deters, not Tensing. 

 

The biggest pieces of evidence I found compelling for a conviction is

 

1) There was no forensic evidence found of any paint or other material on Tensing's uniform from the car. This would indicate he wasn't being dragged as he said (his belt would have likely scraped something off).

2) The gun was aimed down when he fired the shot (ie. the bullet entered higher on his head than it exited), indicating he wasn't being dragged by the vehicle and in fact didn't shoot him out of any apparent necessity.

3) Experts testified that the car in fact had not moved for more than 0.2 seconds (if at all) based on the body cam. This indicates Tensing shot Dubose without any threat to his life.

 

I understand that policing is hard, but the evidence is not very supportive of Tensing having a reason to fear for his life.

The cover of next week's Busted:

http://www.wlwt.com/article/man-beats-robs-victim-after-kicking-in-door-of-eastern-ave-home-police-say/8274968

^ That makes me miss that old cincymugshots.com website.

 

---

 

If Tensing killed Dubose in a 'fit of rage' as you guys describe, the charge should be involuntary manslaughter, not murder. IMO (which is based on a layman's understanding of the Ohio Revised Code - though so is the jury's opinion) this was reckless homicide - mainly because I don't think Tensing wanted to kill Dubose.

 

Really, I think Deters should have never filed the 'murder' charge. If there's a not guilty verdict or a hung jury I'm sure some of the conspiracy folks out there will claim Deters filed that charge knowing he'd never actually get a conviction.

^A "fit of rage" is voluntary manslaughter, not involuntary manslaughter.  The term is actually in the statutory definition of voluntary manslaughter (R.C. 2903.03). 

 

The statutory definition of murder in Ohio is actually pretty simple:  "No person shall purposely cause the death of another or the unlawful termination of another's pregnancy."  (R.C. 2903.02). 

 

 

I guess that makes the murder charge not so far off. Tensing said he took the threat out, but he never needed to. I say hung jury on Murder and convicted of voluntary manslaughter

^ That makes me miss that old cincymugshots.com website.

 

cincymugshots appeared before Busted.  I met the guy who created it on the patio on Neon's right when that place reopened around 2009, but I can't remember his name.  That guy actually wrote the code that lifted the mugshots off of Hamilton County's website, and I remember him saying that he could only pull it off here because most of the other county websites either weren't posting the mugshots or their code was written in some other fashion that I couldn't lift so easily. 

^ That makes me miss that old cincymugshots.com website.

 

cincymugshots appeared before Busted.  I met the guy who created it on the patio on Neon's right when that place reopened around 2009, but I can't remember his name.  That guy actually wrote the code that lifted the mugshots off of Hamilton County's website, and I remember him saying that he could only pull it off here because most of the other county websites either weren't posting the mugshots or their code was written in some other fashion that I couldn't lift so easily. 

 

I think that was at the rally night for the first streetcar issue. It was me and a buddy of mine that made that site, you must have been talking to him - he was the one who wrote the back end code that grabbed everything the sheriff posted (I did the easier user interface stuff). They had (and still do have) a process that posts every mugshot they take online, but they only keep them up as long as the person is in jail (which is sometimes just minutes for minor crimes or things like DUIs). We saw an opportunity there - why not make them permanent, and add the ability for the public to comment on each mugshot? So we wrote a script that would check every 15 minutes and download any new files the county uploaded. The whole site ran itself after about 2 days worth of coding (which was actually done as a class project). I have some crazy stories about how that website came to an end but I wouldn't dare type them out. The short version is you don't want to get involved in the mugshot business.

The guy had kind of a round face but I wouldn't recognize him now.  I remember thinking it was kind of funny but kind of exploitative, but obviously the appearance of Busted was a lot bigger deal than that website.  I remember the first time somebody brought a copy of that paper into work it caused so much disruption that it was banned! 

The intent was to make public record easily accessible to the masses but it quickly turned into one of the most vile places I've ever seen in ~20 years of being on the internet. Some of the stuff posted in the comments was downright scary and we would have to blacklist certain names and IP addresses. Our word filter was mostly composed of racial slurs I didn't even know existed. I've always wondered how Busted stayed in print but I think it's mostly the lack of that comment section.

One of my coworkers just told me that this guy asked out his daughter!

He was active in Delhi at one time too, I remember forming an image in my head after hearing the description of a white guy with a face tattoo. I was WAYYYYYYY underestimating in my mental 'face tattoo stereotype image' before i clicked on the picture with the story. I think any career choice where a description can bring you down needs to be off this fellas radar for a while. http://www.chron.com/news/nation-world/article/Man-charged-in-Ohio-burglar-sports-interesting-6630386.php

Guys like that are extremely outgoing with women.

The Tensing trial just ended in a hung jury, though they've been asked by the judge to continue deliberations (Allen Charge).

He could be a financial advisor. After all, he keep his eyes on the money.

Judge declared mistrial.  Unknown at this time if there will be another trial. 

Saw one of the guys accused of sexual assault in the MOTR Facebook DIY flare-up from last week marching with the black lives matter crowd. 

The Enquirer article says the result was 8-4 in favor of conviction on the manslaughter charge. Only 3 people were willing to convict on the murder charge.