Ohio Officer Won't Be Charged in Fatal Shooting of Teenager
Connie Pillich, the prosecuting attorney for Hamilton County, said at a news conference on Tuesday that the officer, whom she did not identify, was 'legally justified in his use of force' and declined to send the case to a grand jury.
The teenager, Ryan Hinton, was fatally shot by a police officer who was responding to a report of a stolen vehicle on May 1. Mr. Hinton had a fully loaded gun that he pointed at officers when they confronted him, Ms. Pillich said.
'I'm confident that my decision was based on every fact available and was made with due diligence and the utmost care,' the prosecutor said.
Fanon A. Rucker, a lawyer for Mr. Hinton's family, said in remarks after the news conference that the family planned to file a lawsuit.
The police were investigating a report of a stolen vehicle when they found Mr. Hinton and three other people in the stolen car. When officers approached the vehicle, the four men ran. One of the officers saw Mr. Hinton fall as he ran away and heard the sound of metal hitting the pavement, Ms. Pillich said.
In audio from police dash camera footage played at the news conference, another responding officer can be heard yelling, 'He's got a gun,' before shots are fired.
Ms. Pillich said the officer who had fired the fatal shots told investigators that he had heard the warning about the gun and saw Mr. Hinton point a gun at him, after which the officer fired his weapon.
The father, Rodney L. Hinton, 38, is accused of intentionally driving his car into a Hamilton County sheriff's deputy who was directing traffic outside a University of Cincinnati graduation event on May 2, a day after the son's death, according to the prosecutor's office, which filed charges last month.
A lawyer who had been representing the family said that they had gone to the Cincinnati police chief's office earlier that day to see the body-camera footage of the confrontation and that Mr. Hinton had become visibly upset and left before the video was over.
The elder Mr. Hinton pleaded not guilty last month to two counts of aggravated murder, one count of murder and two counts of felonious assault. He faces the death penalty if he is convicted of aggravated murder.
Clyde Bennett, Mr. Hinton's lawyer, said that he was being held without bond at the Clermont County jail.
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