Protests Follow Cincinnati Shooting

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Wednesday April 11 02:13 PM EDT

Protests Follow Cincinnati Shooting

By ABCNEWS.com

Protesters took to the streets of Cincinnati for the second straight day, following the shooting of an unarmed black man by city police.

Violent protests rocked downtown Cincinnati for the second straight night Tuesday after the weekend shooting death of an unarmed black man by police. About 100 demonstrators destroyed property, beat bystanders, looted and shouted words of hatred at the police officers brought in to subdue them. Police say about 30 people have been arrested since the rioting began Monday.

Timothy Thomas, 19, was killed by a single gunshot wound to the chest in an alleyway Saturday night after police chased him several blocks, officials say.

While the demonstrators targeted whites for the violence, even some blacks said that the attacks and destruction that left more than 70 people injured and streets littered with debris and broken glass had gone too far.

"I'm sorry that the brother got killed, I feel for his family, but we need to handle this another way," one black man said. "We are a city that is divided. We are a city that needs healing."

"There is fear everywhere," Police Spc. Johnson, head of the Sentinel Police Association, a black officer's group, told the Associated Press. "There is fear in the police and on the other side, and people are not distinguishing between those who are causing trouble and those who are bringing peace."

"I think everybody in Cincinnati should be worried right now," another man said. "This is a scary situation."

Details Sketchy

Details of the shooting remain sketchy but defenders of Officer Steven Roach say he thought his life was in danger because he saw Thomas reach into his waistband. Investigators have refused to discuss details of the shooting until they complete their investigation.

Thomas is the 15th person killed by Cincinnati police since 1995, the fourth since November, and all of them have been black men. The FBI (news - web sites) today began investigating whether there were any civil rights violations in Thomas' death.

Police Chief Thomas Streicher Jr. has offered condolences to Thomas' family. At the time of his death, Thomas was wanted on 14 warrants for misdemeanors and traffic violations.

Some of the injuries have been serious, as the crowds clashed with police and occasionally attacked white motorists. Local businesses are also paying the price, as extensive damage has turned the downtown area into a war zone. On one block, nearly every store had its windows boarded up.

'They Act Like Fools'

"I think it's absolutely terrible," said Bob Deardorf of Davis Furniture, which had its windows smashed. "They act like fools... I have no idea why they do this."

Police are urging people to stay away from the downtown, Over the Rhine and West End areas of Cincinnati, where the angry mob has smashed windows and knocked over newspaper stands, garbage cans, vendor's carts, and statues.

Police, walking arm-in-arm and riding horseback down Cincinnati streets, have used tear gas and guns loaded with rubber bullets and bean bags, but some of the protesters vowed to resist.

"I'm still standing," one defiantly declared. "It didn't knock me down, and I stood there."

Another protester, who also did not give her name, said she didn't know why police shot her.

"I told him we're the ones who's dying," she said as she was taken to the hospital.

"This will escalate it because they are shooting innocent people, and they are shooting kids that have nothing to do with it already," said Curtis Fox.

Caught in the Middle

But truck driver Robert Stearns was caught in the middle. Protesters jumped into the passenger side of his vehicle, pulled him out, and beat him.

"They tried to take the truck, I tried to stop them," he said. "That didn't work."

He was not the only driver to fall victim to the angry mob. Several others were also pulled from their cars, and they and their vehicles were smashed with rocks, bricks and glass.

"They tried to kill us," said one woman. "There had to be about 50 of them running us backwards."

The windows to her car were smashed.

The protests began as a silent demonstration on Monday. By Tuesday afternoon, angry mobs had taken over and turned the demonstration into a melee. By late Tuesday night, the violence had eased somewhat.

Cincinnati Mayor Charles Luken appealed for calm.

"We are urging now that we go through a period of calm and cooling off, and I hope people will listen to voices in their community and do just that," he said.

But that plea appears to have fallen on deaf ears. Cincinnati is a city in chaos.

ABCNEWS' Cincinnati affiliate WCPO and Mike Schell contributed to this report.

-- (in@the.news), April 11, 2001


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