Back in the United States, the second mistrial has been declared in the murder case of former University of Cincinnati police officer Ray Tensing, who shot African American Samuel DuBose in the head after pulling him over for having a missing front license plate in 2015. Tensing was wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with a Confederate battle flag under his uniform when he killed DuBose. This is the second time a jury has deadlocked on Tensing’s case.
It comes after prosecutors failed to win convictions in two other high-profile cases of police killing civilians. In Minnesota, police officer Jeronimo Yanez was acquitted of manslaughter for killing African-American motorist Philando Castile. In Milwaukee, police officer Dominique Heaggan-Brown was acquitted of charges of reckless homicide for shooting and killing 23-year-old African American Sylville Smith.
Meanwhile, in Dallas, a grand jury has indicted police officer Christopher Hess on charges of aggravated assault for killing 21-year-old Genevive Dawes in January after he fired 13 shots into her car through the passenger side window. Dawes was pregnant at the time she was killed by Officer Hess.