‘Not justified’: Ryan Hinton’s family speaks after prosecutor releases findings

CINCINNATI (WXIX) - A legal representative for Ryan Hinton’s family says they plan to file a civil lawsuit following the Hamilton County Prosecutor’s decision in the officer-involved shooting.

Just moments ago, Hamilton County Prosecutor Connie Pillich announced that the Cincinnati police officer who fired several rounds at Ryan, who was 18, used justified force in the May 1 fatal shooting based on the evidence at hand.

Fanon Rucker, the family’s representative with the Cochran Firm, says that the evidence the prosecutor used to make her decision is primarily blurry body camera footage where they say it is not clear that Ryan posed any threat.

Additionally, Pillich said she did not send the case to a grand jury because she believed the officer’s actions were legal and justified.

This is something Rucker criticized the prosecutor for.

“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,” he said.

Because of Pillich’s decision to not hand this case over to a grand jury, Rucker says the Hintons will be taking it to “the courts.”

“We will in the coming weeks be presenting our argument to the courts,” Rucker continued. “And even though a group of citizens didn’t have the opportunity in that building to decide whether criminal charges should be filed, we believe that a group of citizens should be the ones to make the determination of whether or not in the eyes of the civil courts that the tragic death of young Ryan Hinton was not justified...”

Additionally, Pillich said she has always been clear when it comes to sending certain cases to a grand jury or not.

Ryan’s cousin, Marlin Howard, briefly spoke to the media about missing his cousin.

“I just wanna say, Ryan, we miss you, we love you down here - we all miss you and love you, man... like more than you know, bro,” Howard said.

“But I just wanna say, that prosecutor... what all she said I just felt like was a complete joke,” he continued. “I mean, we all seen Ryan running, man. How can you be threatened by somebody running? I don’t understand.”

In addition to announcing a possible lawsuit, Rucker says they have access to information that “has not been made public” regarding the officers who were at the scene of the shooting that day.

He did not go into detail about what that unreleased information is.

Background on the case

On May 1, Cincinnati police were notified about a report of a stolen vehicle from Northern Kentucky.

Around 10 a.m., Cincinnati police say they found Ryan and three other men - Cynsere Grigsby, Jurell Austin and Deanthony Bullocks - fleeing from the stolen vehicle in East Price Hill.

As all four suspects fled on foot, police started running after them - some of them running in different directions.

Based on body camera footage, the officer who was chasing Hinton saw that the 18-year-old had a gun on him with an extended magazine, prompting him to warn other officers, according to Cincinnati Police Chief Teresa Theetge.

In the video, the officer says: “He’s got a gun! He’s got a gun.”

Within six seconds, the officer fired four to five rounds at the 18-year-old, Theetge said.

Despite attempting life-saving measures on him, Ryan died at the scene.

Retired deputy hit and killed

One day after Ryan’s death, a retired Hamilton County Sheriff’s deputy, identified as Larry Henderson, was directing graduation traffic at the University of Cincinnati.

Henderson was standing outside of his vehicle at the traffic light box at the intersection of Martin Luther King Drive and Burnet Woods Drive when he was hit and killed by a vehicle May 2.

Hours later, Cincinnati police alleged that the driver of the vehicle was 38-year-old Rodney Hinton Jr., Ryan’s father.

According to FOX19 NOW’s previous coverage, Rodney and his family had met with Chief Theetge that morning to discuss the events that led to Ryan’s death.

During the meeting, the family watched the police bodycam videos, including the clips of Ryan being shot and killed.

Cincinnati Police Homicide Det. Carl Beebe previously testified that Rodney appeared to be “agitated” after watching the video and was not able to drive home.

He later came back to get his vehicle, drove around the parking lot, left, came back and then left the station again around 12:49 p.m., Beebe said.

Based on videos and multiple witness statements, Beebe said that Rodney made his way to the Clifton Heights neighborhood after leaving the chief’s office for a third time, saw deputy Henderson and “made the intentional decision” to hit Henderson with his car.

Rodney is currently behind bars at the Clermont County Jail where he is believed to be receiving mental health treatment.

He is facing multiple charges, including aggravated murder (capital death punishment), murder and felonious assault.

On May 8, he pleaded not guilty to all of the charges.

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