Black Lives Matter protested in Ohio after a jury could not reach a unanimous agreement on charges for a police officer who shot an unarmed black man, resulting in a mistrial Saturday.
Protesters gathered outside Cincinnati’s Fountain Square, demanding a retrial of former University of Cincinnati police officer Ray Tensing, who shot unarmed Sam DuBose during a traffic stop, reports WKYC.
A judge declared a mistrial after a jury was unable to reach a unanimous decision on either of Tensing’s charges. Tensing was charged with voluntary manslaughter and murder after shooting DuBose in the head during a July 2015 traffic stop.
The jury was instructed to first consider murder; if they did not find Tensing guilty of it or could not reach a unanimous agreement, they were told to consider voluntary manslaughter.
Eight out of the 12 jurors wanted to convict Tensing on voluntary manslaughter charges, while three wanted a murder conviction.
“We demand an immediate retrial,” Ashley Harrington from Black Lives Matter declared.
Demonstrators took to the streets, chanting “Whose streets? Our streets!” and “The whole damn system is guilty as hell.”
Some protesters also carried signs reading “The only thing killer cops will understand is jail time” and “Ray Tensing is a murderer.”
Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters expressed disappointment with the verdict, but said he believed the jurors did what they could. He added he would make a decision by Nov. 28 as to whether he will retry Tensing.
“I still think it’s murder; I think that we proved it,” Deters said. “We’ll look at what we did and make an assessment.”
An independent investigation revealed that the shooting could have been prevented and Tensing did not use proper police tactics. DuBose tried to drive away during the stop, and Tensing made multiple decisions that escalated the situation, according to the report.
“Tensing set in motion the fatal chain of events that led to the death of DuBose. This incident, which resulted in a tragic loss of life, was entirely preventable,” the report declared.
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