Speaker 1: Joining you and I now.
Speaker 2: By the way, Reds Baseball kicks off about six ten
Speaker 2: the night the Reds are in Atlanta with the Braves.
Speaker 2: But until then, more important events are transpiring Thursday and Friday.
Speaker 2: Joan you and I now is the Chief of Police
Speaker 2: of the City of Cincinnati. Chief Thiji held the news
Speaker 2: conference last week with Charmaine McGuffey, who's going to join
Speaker 2: us later, and once again Chief of Police Fiji. Welcome
Speaker 2: again to the Bill Cunningham Show. And first of all, Chief,
Speaker 2: can you tell me what you can about the events
Speaker 2: that transpire Thursday and Friday and what impact this has
Speaker 2: had on law enforcement, not just in Cincinnati or Hamley County,
Speaker 2: but throughout the tri state.
Speaker 3: Sure, thanks for having me, Bill. So As I reported
Speaker 3: out at the press conference on Friday, this was the
Speaker 3: first incident involved the stolen vehicle, where four individuals ran
Speaker 3: from the car the officers chased home. One was armed
Speaker 3: with a firearm and confronted an officer. The officer viewed
Speaker 3: that hints is at the Ryan Hinton's possession of the
Speaker 3: firearm as a threat, discharged his firearm and unfortunately mister
Speaker 3: Hinton succumbed to his injuries.
Speaker 2: You know, lie circle the globe before before truth and
Speaker 2: take his first step. And some are saying in social
Speaker 2: media that there's not a clear video shot of actually
Speaker 2: Ryan Hinton pointing his nine millimeter with an extended meg
Speaker 2: at the police officer, which was an event that took
Speaker 2: place probably in less than two seconds. Is it fair
Speaker 2: to say that there's not a direct video or a
Speaker 2: snapshot of Ryan Hinton actually pointing the weapon at the
Speaker 2: police officer.
Speaker 1: Is that fair to say? Yeah?
Speaker 3: But you know, I will say, Bill, I think one
Speaker 3: of the most valuable tools in law enforcement in my
Speaker 3: career his the body worn camera. It has proven facts
Speaker 3: for us many many times in law enforcement all across
Speaker 3: the country. In this incident, we do not have a
Speaker 3: crystal clear still photo of mister Hinton pointing a firearm
Speaker 3: at the officer. However, what we do have is mister
Speaker 3: Hinton running from a vehicle with a firearm in hand.
Speaker 3: He stumbles, he still has the firearm in hand. He
Speaker 3: runs between the two dumpsters, comes out at the officer's
Speaker 3: position where the officers positioned, and once mister Hinton was
Speaker 3: sustained his injuries, the firearm was still in his possession
Speaker 3: and was located near his body. So while we may
Speaker 3: not have a crystal clear photo, we have the facts
Speaker 3: prior to his injuries and the facts after his injuries
Speaker 3: that support he was in fact armed with a firearm.
Speaker 3: That along with the officer's interview that said he saw
Speaker 3: a firearm in mister Hinton's hand, pointed in his direction
Speaker 3: and he feared for his life and that's why he
Speaker 3: fired his weapon.
Speaker 1: Was there around in the chamber.
Speaker 3: That is all still up to for investigation.
Speaker 1: Bill.
Speaker 3: That is all still being handled by our criminalistics and
Speaker 3: the Hamilton County Prosecutor's Office. I'm not going to comment
Speaker 3: on that.
Speaker 2: Was there a second gun in the car that was
Speaker 2: stolen the Kia? Was the gun in the possession of
Speaker 2: Ryan Hinton one of the two guns?
Speaker 3: That is correct? There was a second stolen firearm that
Speaker 3: whoever had that one when they ran from the vehicle,
Speaker 3: they left that behind inside the stolen Kia.
Speaker 1: Correct.
Speaker 2: Social media may say there's some purposeful intent not to
Speaker 2: show the moment where the weapon was pointed. As I
Speaker 2: understand it, we're dealing for how much time elapsed from
Speaker 2: the time the officer said gun, gun, gun, And at
Speaker 2: that point you're trained to pull out your weapon at
Speaker 2: that point, because gun gun gun means you're going to
Speaker 2: be in serious situation. How much time elaps from the
Speaker 2: time the officer said gun gun gun until the fatal
Speaker 2: shot was fired into the body of Ryan Hinton?
Speaker 1: Was it a short period of time?
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 3: Six seconds? Six seconds?
Speaker 2: That goes quick, and you referenced this Chief Thiji that
Speaker 2: I can recall many years ago, the police in Cincinnati
Speaker 2: did not like having body cams because it was saying,
Speaker 2: this is too intrusive in my life.
Speaker 1: Isn't it extremely valuable to be.
Speaker 2: Able to show the video almost in real time to
Speaker 2: demonstrate the actions of the police officers. Isn't this a
Speaker 2: critical element that shows the community that well exactly what
Speaker 2: happened instead of words on a page. Anyone can look
Speaker 2: at the video camp put themselves in the position of
Speaker 2: that police officer and say what would you do? Isn't
Speaker 2: the video cam I'm a critical part of this entire investigation.
Speaker 3: Absolutely? It is, absolutely, it is critical. It shows as
Speaker 3: much of the story as we can tell, and then
Speaker 3: you have to add to that storyline the witnesses accounts
Speaker 3: of what happened, being in this case being the officers.
Speaker 1: And Chief Fiji.
Speaker 2: As far as showing the video cam to the family
Speaker 2: in the past, that wasn't always done subject to a
Speaker 2: grand jury subpoena until all the information is out. Why
Speaker 2: did you and the city administration make a decision to
Speaker 2: show the video of the officer's bodycam to the family,
Speaker 2: including Rodney Hinton? Why was that decision made as opposed
Speaker 2: to waiting.
Speaker 3: Yeah? So, actually, Bill, this is something that Chief Isaac
Speaker 3: started when he was here, and it is a very
Speaker 3: difficult conversation to have with somebody's loved one to tell
Speaker 3: them the facts of what occurred and show them the video. However,
Speaker 3: as difficult as that conversation is, I think it is
Speaker 3: extremely valuable so that one the family doesn't start hearing rumors,
Speaker 3: that they hear facts from us first, and two that
Speaker 3: they do not for the very first time see the
Speaker 3: footage on the local news. I would never want to
Speaker 3: be in that position as a mother or a wife,
Speaker 3: and I would never want to put anybody else in
Speaker 3: that position either. The least I can do for them
Speaker 3: is meet with them, offer my condolences and tell them
Speaker 3: what happened.
Speaker 1: You know, Monday back.
Speaker 2: Monday morning quarterbacking is always one hundred percent accurate. Is
Speaker 2: there any sense that the father, Rodney Hinton. Media reports
Speaker 2: indicate that he left that meeting the next day quickly
Speaker 2: in a rage. Can you comment on whether or not
Speaker 2: the father expressed outrage at the killing of a son
Speaker 2: by the police officer or are you present for them?
Speaker 3: I was there when mister Hinton left the room. I
Speaker 3: did not see him or view him in any type
Speaker 3: of a rage. He stepped out. It was a difficult
Speaker 3: conversation to hear. You know, his son was no longer
Speaker 3: with him, and so it was a very difficult conversation
Speaker 3: for him to hear, and he chose to leave the room,
Speaker 3: which is understandable.
Speaker 1: Did he express outrage of the police for killing his son.
Speaker 3: I'm not going to get into that now, Bill, because
Speaker 3: this is still an ongoing investigation, and I'll just leave
Speaker 3: it at that.
Speaker 2: Wait, was there You had no sense that this meeting
Speaker 2: with the family that something ugly was about you. He
Speaker 2: didn't express any verbal threats against police when he left
Speaker 2: the room.
Speaker 3: Again, I'm not going to get into anything that occurred
Speaker 3: inside that room other than the fact that we shared
Speaker 3: the video with him in the facts of the incident.
Speaker 2: All right, Chief teachs you, what message would you give
Speaker 2: to the community at large, because these are difficult days.
Speaker 2: I would assume the funeral of Ryan Hinton's going to
Speaker 2: happen in the next few days. I would assume the
Speaker 2: funeral of Deputy Sheriff Larry Henderson, who gave his life
Speaker 2: for all of us, is going to be held.
Speaker 1: What message would the Chief of Police of Cincinnati give
Speaker 1: to the community.
Speaker 3: Yeah, actually I have several messages Bill. One is, I
Speaker 3: offer my condolences both to the Hinton family as well
Speaker 3: as Deputy Henderson's family. No matter what you think of
Speaker 3: these incidents, people lost individuals who they loved and that
Speaker 3: is extremely unfortunate. The other message that I have is
Speaker 3: asking for calm in our city, asking for calm. Let
Speaker 3: the emotions that your emotions aside and let this play out,
Speaker 3: let the investigations play out. And then thirdly, Bill is actually,
Speaker 3: you know, these were young individuals in a stolen car
Speaker 3: with at least one stolen firearm, and you know, the
Speaker 3: police this is what we've encounter way too often nowadays,
Speaker 3: way too often, and so I think it's incumbent upon parents, guardians,
Speaker 3: whomever to know what the youth are getting into where
Speaker 3: are they, what are they doing, who are they with?
Speaker 3: And just be more present and try to stop this
Speaker 3: type of behavior by our youth.
Speaker 2: Lastly, about a minute remaining, Chief Thji. Wearing the uniform today,
Speaker 2: it's always difficult. None of us put forth the risk
Speaker 2: of life or death by wearing a particular uniform, unless
Speaker 2: you're a police officer, unless you're FBI deputy sheriffs. As
Speaker 2: someone that's worn the uniform now for about thirty years,
Speaker 2: I would assume as we speak this Monday afternoon, you
Speaker 2: have the uniform arm, you have the since I police
Speaker 2: uniform on your body. Do you feel targeted? Do you
Speaker 2: feel different today than you've felt pre to Friday about
Speaker 2: being targeted because of the uniform that you wear.
Speaker 3: I personally do not feel targeted. Bill. I am very
Speaker 3: very proud to put this uniform on it every day.
Speaker 3: I love what I do for the men and women
Speaker 3: of CPD and for this city. However, it is a
Speaker 3: tough time emotionally for everybody who has some involvement in this,
Speaker 3: and you know, for our city, this is tragic incidents
Speaker 3: that happened back to back. It's difficult to handle one
Speaker 3: tragic incident, let alone two. But you know, our officers
Speaker 3: are extremely resilient, extremely professional, and we will take care
Speaker 3: of public safety business every day moving forward.
Speaker 2: Chief Thichi, thanks for coming on. Social media is a
Speaker 2: blaze with threats against police. I think having your eyes
Speaker 2: on a swivel is important today and tomorrow and throughout
Speaker 2: the rest of this week, as always it should be.
Speaker 2: But once again, thanks for coming on the Bill Cunningham Show,
Speaker 2: Chief Thji, and I appreciate it very much.
Speaker 3: Thank you, You're welcome.
Speaker 1: Thanks Bill, Let's continue with more.
Speaker 2: That's the chief of Police, of course of Cincinnati holding
Speaker 2: a news conference, and the city's position these days are
Speaker 2: to release the body cam immediately. And of course, when
Speaker 2: the father saw the video cam within twenty four hours
Speaker 2: of his son's death, in my view, he went out
Speaker 2: seeking to murder a police officer literally ran in Deputy
Speaker 2: Sheriff Larry Henderson. Bill Cunningham News Radio seven hundred WW