The grief-stricken family of Samuel DuBose, a 43-year-old black man who was shot and killed by University of Cincinnati police officer Ray Tensing during a July 19 traffic stop, held an emotional press conference Wednesday following the county prosecutor’s announcement that Tensing would be indicted on a murder charge.
DuBose’s sister Tiera Allen said the release of Tensing’s body-cam video helped vindicate her brother and would make sure he wasn’t painted as a “thug in the neighborhood.” The family’s lawyer, Mark O’Mara, spoke of the need for the community to react to the news in a “peaceful and nonaggressive” way. But the most stirring comments came from DuBose’s mother, Audrey DuBose.
“I’m so thankful that everything was uncovered,” she said. “Because I’ve been a servant of the Lord for as long as I’ve been living on Earth. I know the Lord, and I know the wrath of God. Also, I know the love of God. I just thank God everything is being revealed. I knew that he loved my child. I knew that this was going to be uncovered.”
Later, she read from Psalm 93: “The seas have lifted up, Lord, the seas have lifted up their pounding waves. Mightier than the thunder of the great waters, mightier than the breaker of the sea—the Lord on high is mighty,” she recited.
Earlier this month, Tensing pulled over Samuel DuBose for driving without a front license plate. During the stop, DuBose produced a bottle of alcohol and failed to give the officer his driver’s license. The rest of the details of the shooting were somewhat vague until Tensing’s body-cam footage was released today as Hamilton County prosecutor Joe Deters announced Tensing’s indictment.
“I can forgive him,” Audrey DuBose said of Tensing. “I can forgive anybody. God forgave us.”
