Billy cunning in the Great American Reds Baseball kicked off about five forty tonight in Pittsburgh. Now winners of five in a row, marching for glory this weekend a big series here with the Chicago Cubs. But until then, Jonan, you and I now is Michael Wright, who's the civil attorney for the estate of Ryan Hinton, the eighteen year old teenager shot and killed by Cincinnati police. And Michael Wright,
welcome again to the Bill Cunningham Show. And first of all, I wanted a touch base with you after the comments yesterday of last me so Marco, as you may know, I had her on with me and she talked about the bullet wound that killed Ryan Hinton, which maybe factually was in conflict to what the chief of police had said the day after the shooting. And I wanted to see what impact that has on your case, if anything.
Oh, absolutely, I think it is significant. The fact that the chief and the corner can't get on the same page. I mean, that's pretty interesting. We I believe that you know, what the chief was saying has been intentionally misleading from the corners report. He was shot in the left forearm, he was shot. It says left lateral chests below the armpit. Now, and that's not what she said when she was on
your show. She said that he was shot in the chest, mid center the chest and he was shot below the armpit. And the third finding, which was pretty interesting, was that he was shot in the back. It says right postereo lateral chest, so basically he was shot in the back behind the right shoulder. So, you know, I think the chief has some explaining to do. Why this she was intentionally misleading, and I believe that you know this really this is really interesting that you know, these facts are
coming out. We did an independent autopsy and we have not released the results yet because we are waiting for information from the corner that we requested, such as photographs and things of that nature that they have not sent to us. So, you know, we believed all along this was a bad shoot, and this is more indication, more evidence that this was an unlawful shooting of Ryan Hinton.
But again, we're still investigating, and we unlike the Cincinnati Police Department, unlike the Corner's office, we're not going to do things piecemeal. We're going to have all our information together and we will present all at one time. What we believe will show the unwallful killing of Ryan.
And Hinton Michael right, Let's break it down, doctor Lasmisimaco said. An autopsy revealed Ryan Hinton had three gunshot wounds, one in the left forearm, one in the left lateral chest, and one near the right part of the chest. I asked her yesterday, could there'd be two shots that hit his body causing three gunshot wounds? She said yes, But
I asked her. I asked her specifically, the one in the left forearm and the one in the left lateral chest could be one bullet that exit at the sternum, and one shot was say, in the woods somewhere, and the one near the right part of the chest launched
himself at the base of the skull. And I asked her, well, how do you shoot somebody on the right side of the chest if they're if they're running, if they're in front of you, running away from you on the right and she said, well, it could have been the first shot, which may I use the term kill shot, is the one that took out part of his heart and that could have flipped his body to the right that caused that bullet wounded the right part of the chest with
a bullet lodging up by a skull. Isn't that a reasonable assumption or not?
Well, I don't believe so. Our corner, independent corner, does not believe so. But again we're waiting for all the evidence, all the information, everything that we requested from the corner in order for us to finish our independent autopsy. So that doesn't sound plausible. However, you know that's their you know that that's their story, and they're sticking to it at this point. But what's interesting is that it's all piecemeled, you know, her autopsy. I've never seen an autopsy like this.
It was just three sentences that that makes no sense. So again, oh go ahead.
You know fairly, Michael, right, there's nothing in here to indicate that he was shot in the back. She uses the term left forearm, left life chest and one near the right part of the chest. I don't see the word back anywhere in there.
Well, and there again they're being intentionally misleading. Right posterior lateral chest adjacent to the shoulder. He was shot in the back. So again intentionally misleading information that is being piece milled by this department that's investigating themselves.
Do you have a corner, do you have an equal you have a corner saying these findings have doctor Lasmi Samaka are not accurate.
Yes, we do, but we are waiting for the additional information that we requested to finalize. You know, our corner's report.
Can you address yourself to the issue of an eighteen year old illegally with a gun, pulling it out of the car that he was stolen, running four or five steps, falling, dropping the gun, and picking up back up. Isn't that an indication that he intended to use it if he picked it up at least twice.
No, absolutely not, that's not what that means. Let's let's let's look at how he was shot. He was running away and even with the chief said, there's nothing in the video that indicates that he was pointing the gun towards an officer. And what's even more interesting, Bill, was that it was an undercover officer, a detective that shot him.
It wasn't a uniformed officer that shot him. So how do we know that, Ryan, Well, one, there's nothing indicating or showing that he pointed the gun towards this officer. And let's say for argument's sake, that he did. If this is an If this is an ununiformed officer that's pointing a gun at you, how does Ryan know this is not the person that owned the vehicle that was coming after him with a gun trying to get their vehicle back.
So, Michael, right, you're saying that the officer who killed Ryan Hinton was not in uniform? Is that what you're saying?
That's what I'm saying. This was an undercover and as the chief, As the chief indicated when she spoke to you, she said that once the uniform officers got there, the undercover officers were supposed to back off. So again, intentionally misleading statements that we are still trying to piece together. But you know, we're not going to make, you know,
statements that we can't back up. So again, once we're finished with our investigation, we're going to present the evidence that we believe is going to show that this was an unlawful shoot, that the officer should not have been in reasonable fear for his life, That Ryan was running away, trying to get away, this officer shot him in the side and also in the back, and what we're still trying to determine, also, is whether or not there was
more than one shooter. We don't have that information either, so we requested the corner's information, the ballistics information. We have not received that either.
Wasn't it wrong for Ryan Hinton at the age of eighteen to illegally possess a gun and to steal a car? Didn't his behavior bring about his own death in a sense by illegally committing felonies at the moment he was shot because you can't be under twenty one to have a firearm, and he had a handgun, and not hard to agree that.
I would agree that his behavior was not what he should have been doing. However, that doesn't mean that he should get the death sentence by an officer that should not have shot.
Let's talk about the gun itself pointed, according to the Cincinnati Police, and I have the statement originally here of the Chief of Police who talked about this is the day after the event took place, and she essentially said, I'm gonna share it with you. This is from the Cincinnati Police on Tuesday morning. Cincinnati Police officers from the Fugitive Apprehension Squad we're investigating a stolen car near East Price Hill. When the officers approached the car, four suspects
jumped out of the car and ran. One of the suspects pulled a semi automatic handgun and pointed it at an officer. That officer fired his weapon, hitting the suspect, the armed suspect instead. No other officers were injured. They're saying, in this statement quote pointed it at an officer. Are you contending that is false?
That's absolutely false. It's intentionally misleading. And then she says that there's no video evidence that would substantiate or that would confirm that the gun was pointed at an officer. So absolutely false, misleading statements that we disagree with.
It does the videotape, which is the blurry. I've seen it one hundred times. You probably seen it five hundred times. It's blurry, and I can't see him having a gun in his right hand, and the officer said he did. And the videotape, to be generous, is blurry. How can you make this statement he didn't have it when there's
not video evidence that he did or didn't. From my perspective as a great American, I looked at that a lot and it's so blurry, I can't see what's in his hand, if anything, can you right?
No, absolutely no. So how does the chief make the statement that he pointed it at the officer and that's why the officer discharged his firearm and left out the fact that this was a undercover detective closes officer. So you know this, there's just a lot of things that don't add up there. There there's a lot of information, there's a lot of statements that just don't they they don't fit together. So that's why we are still investigating.
That's why we have not come out and made you know, uh statements to the fact that this was absolutely a bad shoot early on. But the more information that we are getting, you know, it points to the fact that Ryan should should still be here with us. He should not have been shot and killed by the officer. It was an unlawful shoot, and you know, we are going to hold the department accountable.
Michael, right, I'll paraphrase a little bit what the chief of police said to me on the air, and also the coroner and also Ken kober Uh, the Queen City Police. The president of the lodge said an officer does not have to wait for an armed suspect to point a gun at them or to fire around to respond. And and and there was a gun. I've seen the picture of the nine millimeter gun on the on the on the pavement, I've seen pictures of it. Is that Ryan Hinton's gun.
He had it in his possession, So whether or not it was his gun, I can't speak directly to that. But yes, it was in his possession, all right.
If it's in his possession, he.
Did he did fall, he did pick it up, he did run away from the officers. But this officer shot him in the side, and he has a bullet in his back, so there was no He did not even look in the officer's direction. So it is not reasonable for the officer to use deadly force in this situation when it does not.
The video shows him picking up the weapon and running between the big dumpsters. Can you say whether your client had the gun in his right hand at the moment he was shot.
I can't at this point, Bill, We're still investigating. As you indicated, the video is very blurry. Blurry video is hard to see, So you know, how do you make the determination? How did the chief make the determination that you know, it makes the statement that it was pointed at the officer when the officer took a shot. Furthermore, the officer shot him from the side. Ryan was running, He was trying to get away, So it doesn't make
a lot of sense. So again, we're still investigating. But as we do more and more investigation, it appears and the story does not jive with the facts and circumstances of the evidence.
Did he do you have any illegal substances in his body?
Do you know? I can't answer that. I asked, We asked for the corner's report and we got three sinces, so I can't. I can't answer that. And whether or not he did or did not, I don't think that has anything to do with whether or not the officer, would you know, have taken this unlawful shot.
Lastly, when the officers pulled up into a condo project, I believe there's one way up, one way out. Uh, weren't there marked police cars present and officers in uniform present in uniform at the time your client was shot?
Yes? There was?
Okay, so your guy was Your guy was running away from police that were in uniform. I would assume someone's yelling stop and someone yelled gun, gun, gun, and.
Well, we heard gun gun gun. I don't know if I heard stop, we're still going.
I didn't see that.
Yeah, we heard gun gun, gun, and I believe that was the reason for the shot. I don't believe that the officer or the undercovered detective even saw the gun. He just heard another officer yo, gun gun gun, saw someone running and then took took shots.
Well, I would point out again that the Cincinnati Police are saying that the suspect pulled a semi automatic handgun pointed at an officer, and I guess this. Some say that's not critical because you can't wait to be shot at or have a gun pointed at you to return fire. That the mere possession of the firearm by someone of fleeing felon puts the officers at a life at risk. But you disagree with that.
I disagree. And they also said he was shot twice, that that was not the case. So you know, just all this investigation has not been handled correctly. And I even with regards to the corner, I thought it was suspicious as it relates to the corner was having a press conference. Then stop the press conference because the Grand jury subpoenas and then had a press conference. And you know, we don't know what they are trying to hide. Was
there a grand jury, what were the findings? I mean, this just doesn't none of this adds up.
Michael, Right, what's your next step for the estate of Ryan Hinton? What's your next step?
Well, our next step is hopefully to receive all the information that we requested. Once we've done that, then we will make a decision as to our steps going forward.
All right, Michael Wright of the Cochrane Law Firm, thanks for coming on the Bill Cunningham Show. The investigation continues, and Michael, thank you very much.
Thank you for having me.
Well, let's continue with more. There you have it, and it could be a he said, she said, And I don't know. You can look at the videotape a thousand times and it is so blurry you can't see what is or what is not in Ryan Hinton's hands. Yeah, I can't see it, and I don't think the chief of police sees it. But the officer said it was there and in his mind it was a good shoot. We'll see what happens. Let's continue with more. Bill Cunningham News Radio seven hundred ww