The family of Ryan Hinton, the 18-year-old fatally shot by a Cincinnati police officer, is gearing up for a civil lawsuit following the Hamilton County Prosecutor's statement that the shooting was justified, as reported by LOCAL12. Prosecutor Connie Pillich's ruling on Tuesday stirred controversy, denying criminal charges against the officer involved. This ruling has been heavily criticized by Hinton's family as well as their attorney Fanon Rucker.
Marlyn Howard, Hinton's cousin, shared a poignant perspective, stating, "I just want to say, the prosecutor, whatever she said, I just feel like it was a complete joke. I mean, we've all seen Ryan running, man. How can you be threatened by somebody running? I don't understand it," in an interview with LOCAL12. Furthermore, Rucker, a former judge and prosecutor, did not allege any political motives behind prosecutor Pillich's decision, yet found the justification she offered for the deadly interaction perplexing and confounding, and he intimated that during their pursuit for civil justice, information not yet public would be revealed, as noted by WLWT.
While defending the decision against charging the officer, Prosecutor Pillich claimed Hinton was holding a loaded gun with an extended magazine that had a bullet in the chamber when shot, her portrayal of Hinton's pose as a "bladed manner" directed at an officer sparked further inquiry and confusion from critics, including the NAACP. David Whitehead, NAACP President, responded skeptically, "I still don't know what that means, I gotta google it. What is a bladed position? And I don't know, did you see video footage where the gun was pointed?" as reported by WLWT.
Adding to the debate, Rucker criticized the prosecutor for not sending the case to a grand jury and proclaimed that the family's resolve will shift the battle to the courts, where they aim to have a group of citizens deliberate on the justification of Ryan Hinton's tragic death; however, the prosecutor stood by her decision citing legality and justification rather than community judgment, as detailed by FOX19. "Two of the things we want to press to you today that the prosecutor did - first of all, we obviously disagree with the idea that this is justified. Second of all, there are neighboring jurisdictions who take every serious police case, shooting, homicide to the grand jury - to let citizens look at the evidence and make a decision where the charges are appropriate," Rucker emphasized in his critique of Pillich's decision-making process.
