CINCINNATI- A grand jury indicted a white policeman on two minor charges for last month's shooting an unarmed black man, a prosecutor said Monday, in a case that has sparked racially charged rioting.

The nine-member grand jury examining the April 7 shooting death of 19-year-old Timothy Thomas indicted the officer, Stephen Roach, for negligent homicide and obstructing official business, both misdemeanors, Hamilton County Prosecutor Mike Allen said. Roach, 27, has been on unpaid leave since chasing Thomas down a dark alley, saying he opened fire when he believed Thomas was reaching for a gun. Thomas was the 15th black crime suspect to be killed by Cincinnati police since 1995, a period during which no white suspects were killed in the city.

Demonstrators charged police unfairly targeted blacks in this city of 300,000, which is 43 percent black, and the protests evolved into rioting that resulted in dozens of injuries, hundreds of arrests and scores of looted and burned buildings.

Earlier Monday, U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft announced a federal civil rights investigation of the Cincinnati Police Department and its tactics, with officials saying the timing was designed to defuse tensions in the city.

The cops in Cincinnati should go on strike and let the politicians deal with the black community. If you live in a big city, get your ass ready for a long, hot summer.

-- Politico's (kissing@black.ass), May 07, 2001

Answers

The riots did not start immediately after the shooting of Thomas, but a couple days later after the city council met publically and the answer to the mother's question about what was being done about it was that the council had been advised by their lawyers to not make any statement. The mayor made some equally evasive remark the next day which sparked the rioting.

On the other hand some of these 15 blacks that have been killed opened fire on the police first, unlike Thomas who ran away because he didn't want to pay his outstanding parking tickets (reported on the national news as misdemeanors). The Cincinnati news originally said the shooting was a case of mistaken identity (the suspect was believed to be the perpetrator of several armed robberies), but this interpretation disappeared a few hours after the incident before most people were awake to be replaced by the reaching for a gun version.

(second hand information from friends in Cincinnati)

dandelion

-- dandelion (golden@pleurisy.plant), May 08, 2001.

The answer to Timmy’s mother is: “ Your low-life son got his ass shot for not obeying the law”. I'm waiting for her to tell us what a wonderful mother she is and how she raised her son to respect the law and his fellow man. Whoops, I forgot.…them African Americans don’t have to do dem things.

-- Politico's (kissing@black.ass), May 08, 2001.