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