University creates role to oversee its police reform efforts

A coroner says that the bottle held up by a motorist killed by a University of Cincinnati police officer apparently contained a fragrance, not alcohol.

Hamilton County coroner Dr. Lakshmi Sammarco said in a statement that lab analysis found compounds consistent with those commonly found in air fresheners or perfumes.

DuBose was pulled over by police officer Raymond Tensing on July 19 because the vehicle he was driving did not have a front license plate. In the video, you can hear DuBose call it “air freshener” when he hands it to officer Ray Tensing.

HO University of Cincinnati police Officer Ray Tensing takes a gin bottle full of air freshener from Samuel DuBose during a deadly traffic stop, video shows.

The filings in Hamilton County list Samuel DuBose as having 11 children. He is the first cop in Cincinnati to face murder charges for killing someone while on duty. The initial report also indicated DuBose dragged Tensing alongside his auto in the seconds leading up to the fatal gunshot. The university fired Tensing shortly after his indictment on murder and voluntary manslaughter charges in Dubose’s death. DuBose was stopped off campus.

The encounter was caught in detail on Tensing’s body camera, footage of which was released this week by the prosecuting attorney, who has called for the university police to be disbanded.

A lawsuit has not yet been filed in relation to Sam Dubose, but his mother, Audrey Dubose, has asked a judge to allow her to oversee her late son’s interests in the case by being appointed the administrator of his estate, as he was not married.