Cincinnati cop pleads not guilty to murder in traffic stop

CINCINNATI -- A University of Cincinnati police officer who shot a motorist after stopping him over a missing front license plate pleaded not guilty Thursday to charges of murder and voluntary manslaughter.

Twenty-five-year-old Ray Tensing appeared at his arraignment wearing a striped jail suit, with his hands cuffed behind him.

He was indicted Wednesday in the July 19 shooting of 43-year-old Samuel DuBose, of Cincinnati, during a traffic stop.

People in the courtroom audience erupted into cheers and clapped when bond was set at $1 million, drawing the ire of Common Pleas Judge Megan Shanahan.

"Ladies and gentlemen! This is a courtroom," the judge said sharply. "You will conduct yourselves at all times!"

Prosecutors had asked for the $1 million bond. Shanahan rejected the defense's contention Tensing wasn't a flight risk.

"The case will be tried and decided in court," attorney Stewart Mathews said afterward.

He said there are two sides to the case, and the much-viewed body camera video of the stop can be interpreted differently from the prosecutor's version.

He described Tensing, who is due back in court Aug. 19, as "very depressed" and "in shock at this point," adding Tensing has felt "like he's been run over by a train from the start of this case, and it continues."

DuBose's family has urged the community to remain calm, as it has in a series of demonstrations since the shooting. Tensing had stopped DuBose for a missing front license plate, which is required in Ohio but not in neighboring states.

DuBose's death comes amid months of national scrutiny of police dealings with African-Americans, especially those killed by officers. DuBose was black; Tensing is white. Authorities so far have not focused on race in the death of DuBose. City officials who viewed video footage from Tensing's body camera said the traffic stop shouldn't have led to a shooting.

"This officer was wrong," police chief Jeffrey Blackwell said Wednesday, adding officers "have to be held accountable" when they're in the wrong.

Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters scoffed at Tensing's claim he was dragged by DuBose's car, saying the officer "purposely killed him." Using words such as "asinine" and "senseless," the veteran prosecutor known for tough stands on urban crime called it "a chicken crap" traffic stop.

"It was so unnecessary," Deters said. He added Tensing "should never have been a police officer."

Tensing, who was jailed overnight Wednesday, was fired soon after the indictment was announced.

He had been with the University of Cincinnati for more than a year after starting police work in 2011 in a Cincinnati suburb.

He also had earned a UC degree in criminal justice.