Officer who triggered Cincinnati riots charged

Associated Press

CINCINNATI — A grand jury returned two misdemeanor charges Monday against a white police officer whose fatal shooting of an unarmed black man touched off three nights of devastating riots.

As night fell, there were scattered reports of broken windows around downtown, where many businesses had been boarded up in case of new violence. About 150 people marched peacefully at police headquarters chanting "No justice, no peace" as officers on horseback and in riot gear watched nearby in a steady rain. The protest dispersed after an hour.

Officer Stephen Roach was charged with negligent homicide and obstruction of official business exactly one month after 19-year-old Timothy Thomas was shot as he fled down an alley.

Roach, 27, has said he thought Thomas was reaching for a gun. If convicted of both charges, Roach would face no more than nine months in jail and could receive probation.

Thomas, being sought for 14 outstanding warrants, was the fifth black man killed in confrontations with Cincinnati police since November.

The grand jury’s choice of misdemeanor charges drew immediate criticism from Thomas’ mother, Angela Leisure.

"I feel it was a slap on the wrist," she said. "I don’t feel like justice was served. I feel it was not severe enough for the severity of what he did. He took a life. Negligence — that doesn’t cut it for me."

The shooting prompted the city’s worst racial violence since the 1968 assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. in Memphis, Tenn. Dozens were injured during April’s unrest and more than 800 arrests were made before a citywide curfew helped restore order.

Earlier Monday, the Justice Department said it has formally opened a civil rights investigation of the Cincinnati police department.

Fifteen blacks and no whites have died in confrontations with Cincinnati police since 1995, with authorities saying most pointed guns or shot at officers.

Roach, a police officer since 1997, had been on paid leave but the department announced Monday night that he would be returned to desk duty. Roach’s lawyer, Merlyn Shiverdecker, said his client would plead innocent.