Cincinnati halts traffic stops by campus police after shooting

Reuters
University of Cincinnati police officer Ray Tensing stands near a car after driver Samuel Dubose was allegedly pulled over and shot during a traffic stop in Cincinnati, July 19, 2015. REUTERS/Hamilton County Prosecutor's Office

(Reuters) - Cincinnati has suspended an agreement that allowed university police officers to make traffic stops off their campuses after a July incident in which a white campus officers shot and killed an unarmed black man, city officials said on Wednesday.

University of Cincinnati police officer Ray Tensing has been charged with murder for the shooting of Samuel DuBose, in the incident, which prosecutors called "totally unwarranted."

The Cincinnati city council unanimously voted on Wednesday to suspend the six-year-old deal that had allowed university officers to make traffic stops off campus.

The incident was the latest in a series of fatal police confrontations in the state and across the United States that have raised questions about police use of force against minorities.

Body camera video release by Hamilton County prosecutor Joseph Deters' office shows Tensing pulled his gun and fired once into DuBose's car, after it began to roll forward.

Tensing, 25, had stopped DuBose, 43, for a missing front license plate and initially claimed that DuBose dragged him as he attempted to drive away, an account that the video contradicted.

(Reporting by Kim Palmer in Cleveland; Editing by Scott Malone and Mohammad Zargham)