United States: Father of teenager fatally shot by police charged with killing officer

The city of Cincinatti, Ohio, in the United States, has been the scene of two high-profile killings in the past week. 

A man appeared in court on Saturday, a day after he struck and killed a police officer with his car.  Authorities said the crash seemed to be intentional. The driver of the car, 38-year-old Rodney Hinton Jr., was charged with aggravated murder. 

The victim of the crash was identified as Deputy Larry Henderson. He retired a few months ago after working 33 years with the Hamilton County Sheriff's office, but he continued to serve off-duty assignments, according to Hamilton County Sheriff Charmaine McGuffey.

Ohio governor Mike DeWine said on X that he was "sickened by what appears to be an intentional act of violence."

But Rodney Hinton Jr. is also the father of a teenager who was killed by a Cincinnati police officer on Thursday. 

Police fatally shot 18-year-old Ryan Hinton during a chase, after officers responded to a call about a stolen car.

The officer who fired told investigators that the suspect pointed a gun at him during the chase, said Cincinnati's police chief Teresa A. Theetge.

Body camera video released on Friday showed one officer yelling “he’s got a gun, he’s got a gun" before several shots were fired as Ryan Hinton was running behind an apartment complex.

The footage from the body camera is blurry and does not clearly show Ryan Hinton pointing a gun. There was also no indication that he fired at police before he was shot, Theetge said.

Rodney Hinton Jr. and other family members met at the police chief’s office the morning after the shooting and watched the police body camera video showing the killing of the teenager. 

Hinton could not make it through the entire video. “He was distraught, he was upset”, said Michael Wright, the Hinton family attorney. “I can’t tell you whether he was angry. He was just kind of upset, despondent, really upset by what he saw.”

A few hours later, he fatally drove into a county deputy who was directing traffic near the University of Cincinnati on graduation day. 

"I do have a plea to everybody, let the processes play out. Let the investigations play out. Keep calm. Take care of one another. And I can assure you as the chief of police for Cincinnati, I will ensure you transparency and a thorough and accurate investigation", said Theetge.

Motivations for Hinton’s alleged targeting of the deputy have not been disclosed. The deaths of both the police officer and the teenager remain under investigation. 

An attorney representing Rodney Hiton Jr. said in court that he has no prior felonies, local news outlet WLWT reported.

He will face another hearing on Tuesday.