Eight years ago Cincinnati was shutdown by major race riots, a reaction to the fatal shooting of Timothy Thomas by Cincinnati Police.
Since then race issues have been very touchy here. Now we are facing an incident in which a Cincinnati police officer tasered a young black female, who turns out to be a city councilman’s daughter. The incident appears to be unjust and Cincinnati police chief Tom Streicher is already calling the incident “excessive”. The internal investigation on the incident is due out today and expected to echo the chief’s views.
It is reassuring to see the police take a proactive response to this. The incident occurred last weekend, so we are seeing a completed investigation in under a week. Hopefully the punishment handed down to the officer will be fitting for the crime, even though I doubt it will. The city manager will decide on disciplinary action. If the force was truly excessive then the prosecutor should be brought in to decide. Police should be held to the same standards as those they are charged to protect, and if you or me assaulted someone we would be facing a judge.
Please get it right Cincinnati. If this officer is found to have used excessive force then refer is to Hamilton County prosecutors and let them decide if the officer should be charged with a crime. It will hopefully send a message to police officers nationwide that they need to think twice before deploying their tasers.