Former University of Cincinnati police officer Ray Tensing, who’s been charged with murder, made more traffic stops and arrests than anyone else in his department, a new report shows.
The report also shows that in his year patrolling the city, Tensing gave out the most citations and had the highest racial disparity in traffic stops of any UC officer, according to cincinnati.com.
The data was compiled by independent compliance investigator Exiger, which was hired by the university as part of efforts to reform the department.
Tensing, 26, fatally shot Sam DuBose, an unarmed black man, during a traffic stop off campus on July 19, 2015. Tensing claimed he was forced to use his firearm after being dragged by DuBose’s vehicle when the pedestrian attempted to drive away, but body camera footage disproved that claim.
A subsequent review of the shooting found Tensing was justified in stopping DuBose’s vehicle but not justified in using deadly force, and that Tensing made “critical errors in judgement that created an elevated risk of serious or fatal bodily injury.”
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Stew Mathews, an attorney representing Tensing, said that each traffic stop was based on probable cause, and argued that the racial disparity was due to the racial makeup in the area of the city that Tensing was patrolling.
“Ray was an aggressive police officer as he was instructed to be because UC had a crime problem,” Mathews says.
Mathews also asked for a broader investigation into the university administration and former UCPD Chief Jason Goodrich.
Goodrich has been criticized for pushing for more traffic stops, and Mathews argued that Tensing was simply following the orders of his chief. In Goodrich’s first year as police chief, UCPD traffic stops tripled.
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