cincinnati shooting Officer pleads, is released on bail

Associated Press

CINCINNATI

A University of Cincinnati police officer who fatally shot a motorist during a traffic stop pleaded not guilty Thursday to a charge of murder and was ordered jailed on $1 million bail.

Fired UC officer Ray Tensing later posted 10 percent of that amount and was released, the Hamilton County Court clerk’s website said. He was freed about 6:30 p.m., county sheriff’s spokesman Mike Robison confirmed.

People in the courtroom audience had erupted into cheers and clapped when Tensing’s bail was set at $1 million, drawing the ire of Judge Megan Shanahan.

“Ladies and gentlemen! This is a courtroom,” the judge said sharply.

Tensing also pleaded not guilty to a charge of voluntary manslaughter in the July 19 shooting of Samuel DuBose, who was stopped for not having a front license plate.

Defense attorney Stewart Mathews said there are two sides to the case and the officer’s much-viewed body camera video of the traffic stop can be interpreted differently from the prosecutor’s version.

He described Tensing as “very depressed” and “in shock,” adding the officer felt “like he’s been run over by a train from the start of this case.”

Tensing, 25, was fired soon after he was indicted. He had been with the University of Cincinnati for more than a year after starting police work in 2011 in a Cincinnati suburb. He has a UC degree in criminal justice.