A photo of a video monitor showing Cincinnati Police Dept. Sgt. Shannon Heine and another Cincinnati police representative interviewing Ray Tensing, right, is shown in the courtroom of Common Pleas Judge Megan Shanahan at the Hamilton County Courthouse, Thursday, Nov. 3, 2016, in Cincinnati. Tensing, a former University of Cincinnati police officer, is charged with fatally shooting Sam DuBose during a routine traffic stop in July 2015. (Cara Owsley/The Cincinnati Enquirer via AP, Pool)
Republished November 03, 2016 - 10:51 AM
Original Publication Date November 02, 2016 - 9:20 PM
CINCINNATI - Analysis of body camera video shows that a white University of Cincinnati police officer was not being dragged by the car of the unarmed black man he fatally shot during a traffic stop last year, an expert for prosecutors testified Thursday.
Video analyst Grant Fredericks told jurors during Ray Tensing's murder trial Thursday that the victim's car moved slightly before the shot was fired.
The testimony contradicted Tensing's statement to investigators that he was being dragged by the car driven by Sam DuBose and that he feared for his life. DuBose was shot in the head. Tensing was later fired from the police force.
In that videotaped statement, played for jurors Thursday, Tensing said, "I was thinking, 'Oh my gosh, I'm being dragged by this guy's car. I don't want to die today.'"
Fredericks, of Spokane, Washington-based Forensic Video Solutions, conducted a frame-by-frame analysis of Tensing's body camera footage for jurors.
Defence attorney Stewart Mathews has contended that Tensing felt he was in danger as DuBose tried to speed away, using his car as "a weapon."
Prosecutors say Tensing lied about being dragged and acted contrary to police standards and the law.
Also Thursday, Tensing was heard in his videotaped statement saying he didn't detect drugs or alcohol in DuBose's car.
Mathews has told jurors the 43-year-old DuBose was desperate to get away because he had enough marijuana in his car to face a felony conviction.
DuBose had a long history of traffic and marijuana-related convictions, but his family says he wouldn't have been a threat to police.
Testimony in the trial in Cincinnati has concluded for the day.
News from © The Associated Press, 2016