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Racial Injustice or a "100% Off Sale" at Deveroes....You Decide.

May 1, 2001

In the interest of public education, we must remind people that there has been a lot of misinformation put out in the media about what happened in our city less than a month ago.  It is with that thought in mind we present the following list to better inform the public of actual facts rather than editorialized opinions.

Since 1995, 14 black men and a youth have died while being arrested by Cincinnati police or in police custody. A police officer was killed during one of those confrontations. Two others were killed while trying to arrest a black man suspected in a felony domestic-violence case.

1. HARVEY PRICE, 34, was shot Feb. 1, 1995, while lunging at officers with a knife after he killed his girlfriend's 15-year-old daughter with an ax. The officers were exonerated.

2. DARRELL PRICE, 42, died April 4, 1996, after striking his head while resisting arrest. He was unarmed. Witnesses said he had been shouting about a gun and jumped on a car in traffic before police confronted him. Police said his mother expressed concern that he had taken a mixture of illegal drugs and medication prescribed for depression. The officers' actions were upheld.

3. LORENZO COLLINS, 25, was shot Feb. 23, 1997, after threatening police officers with a brick. He was spayed with a chemical irritant first, but police said it had no effect. Collins had escaped from a locked psychiatric ward at University Hospital, where Springdale police took him for observation after he was arrested on a theft charge. The office of Municipal Investigation ruled that the two officers should not be disciplined.

4. DANIEL WILLIAMS, 41, attacked and then shot an officer three times while she sat in her police car on Feb. 2, 1998. She returned fire and killed him. The officer survived and was later exonerated.

5. JERMAINE LOWE, 21, shot at police officers who returned fire, killing him June 3, 1998. Lowe, a robbery suspect, was driving a stolen car. The three officers were cleared.

6. RANDY BLACK, 23, a bank robbery suspect, was shot July 17, 1998, after he fled a University of Cincinnati credit union and threw a chunk of concrete at an officer. The officer was cleared.

7. MICHAEL CARPENTER, 30, was shot March 19, 1999, after he was stopped for expired tags. He was unarmed. One officer said he was dragged by the car when he tried to get Carpenter out. Another officer fired nine shots when the car lurched back toward him. One officer resigned. The police division said the other officer was justified but he was disciplined and ordered to training for tactical errors. After several investigations, the Justice Department decided not to file federal charges.

8. JAMES KING, 44, was shot Aug. 20, 1999, after robbing a bank and pointing a gun at officers. The officers were exonerated.

9. CAREY TOMPKINS, 28, was shot Oct. 16, 1999, after officers responded to a 911 call reporting a man with a gun. When police arrived at the scene, they heard Tompkins arguing with a woman inside. While frisking him, police felt a gun under Tompkins' shirt. When Tompkins broke free and tried to draw the weapon, police shot him. The officers were exonerated.

10. ALFRED POPE, 23, was shot March 14, 2000, after allegedly robbing and shooting at a group of men. The officers were cleared.

11. COURTNEY MATHIS, 12, was shot Sept. 1, 2000, while driving a relative's car in a convenience store parking lot. He was unarmed. Officer KEVIN CRAYON (see below) tried to stop Mathis but was dragged 800 feet into the street. Crayon shot the boy, then dropped to the street and died when he was flung into the undercarriage of a car stopped in traffic. Investigations are continuing.

12. ROGER OWENSBY JR., 29, died of asphyxiation while resisting arrest Nov. 7, 2000. He was unarmed. Officers thought Owensby fit the description of a person involved in a previous, unspecified crime. When Owensby tried to flee, officers tackled and sprayed him with a chemical irritant, police said. He was handcuffed and put in a police vehicle. Police later realized he needed medical attention and took him to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead two hours later. A coroner said Owensby could have died as the result of "a chokehold gone bad" or from being compressed under the weight of police officers who took him down. An investigation is continuing.

13. JEFFREY IRONS, 30, was shot Nov. 8, 2000, after robbing a grocery store and grabbing an officer's gun. An investigation is continuing.

14. ADAM WHEELER, 21, was killed in a shootout on Jan. 31, 2001. Police were called to an apartment to investigate complaints about drug activity. Wheeler pulled a gun and asked officers, "You want some of this?" police reports said. Wheeler was killed after he emptied his gun at police. Investigations are pending.

15. TIMOTHY THOMAS, 19, was shot April 7, 2001, after fleeing officers trying to arrest him on 14 warrants, mostly traffic charges. He was unarmed. Investigations are pending.

1, 2. Police Specialist RONALD JETER, 34, and Police Specialist DANIEL POPE, 35, were shot to death Dec. 5, 1997, by Alonzo Davenport, a black felony domestic-violence suspect. Davenport shot and killed himself when confronted by other officers.

3. Police Officer KEVIN CRAYON, 40, was killed on Sept. 1, 2000, when he tried to stop COURTNEY MATHIS, (see above), a black 12-year-old boy, from driving in a convenience-store parking lot. Crayon, who was dragged by the car, shot Mathis and was later flung to the street, killing him instantly.

Make sure that people know the truth! Pass this on to someone who might not know.

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