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The fatal shooting occurred early April 7 when a Cincinnati policeman, Steven Roach, chased Timothy Thomas into an alley and shot him in the chest at close range. The cop pursued Thomas because he fit the description of an individual sought by the police for 14 warrants, all of them misdemeanors or traffic violations.
Friends said Thomas had left the apartment he shared with his fiancée, Monique Wilcox, and his 3-month-old son, Tywon, to buy cigarettes. Thomas had recently earned his general equivalency diploma and secured a job as a laborer. He was planning to marry his fiancée in June.
By the morning of Monday, April 9, protesters were gathering in the streets, demanding justice. Thomas was the fourth black man killed by Cincinnati police since November, and the fifteenth such victim since 1995. A police news conference about the death of Thomas suggested a whitewash.
Later the same day, during a public city council meeting, angry local residents carrying signs and banners chanted and voiced their outrage. According to press accounts, protesters screamed at Council members and prevented them from leaving during a three-hour confrontation. Eventually they were able to get Thomas’ mother, Angela Leisure, to the podium to demand an explanation from city officials about her son’s death. She said, “You took him from his family and his son, and we want to know why. And don’t get me wrong, even when you tell me why, it’s not going to make it better.”
By the end of Monday a crowd of over 800 protesters, mainly youth, was in the street in front of police headquarters.
At midnight, riot police began to encircle the crowd that remained. They repeatedly fired beanbag stun guns and sprayed pepper gas in attempts to disperse the demonstration.
Protesters fought back by lobbing bottles and bricks at the cops. Bricks were also aimed at city buildings.
Police eventually charged the crowd and made at least 10 arrests. Dozens were injured in the clash, mainly by police stun guns. Local hospitals reported admitting 25 people injured in the conflict.
Public anger continued Tuesday afternoon and evening as crowds took to the streets. In the downtown, Over-the-Rhine, and West End areas of Cincinnati, crowds broke windows and knocked over garbage cans, vendors’ carts and statues. Numerous stores were broken into and looted.
Police began working 12-hour shifts and riding three in a patrol car. In the city’s streets, they walked arm-in-arm and rode horseback, using tear gas and guns loaded with rubber bullets and “bean bags” - bags, about the size of a tea bag, filled with an ounce of lead birdshot.
Sixty-six people were arrested, including five juveniles.
Several schools were closed Wednesday, and US Post Office officials announced that they were suspending mail deliveries in the Over-the-Rhine neighborhood for the duration of the violence. Residents of the area were requested to pick up their mail at a postal substation.
A number of individuals and organizations principally from Cincinnati’s white community met and adopted a statement of support for and solidarity with the African American community:
“We condemn the top leadership of the Cincinnati City government and the Cincinnati Police Department for their failure to deal with the long history of police abuse of power and institutional racism in the department, above all the killing of 15 black men since 1995, and the recent killing of Timothy Thomas...We wish to express our sympathy to the family of Timothy Thomas and the other families and individuals who have been victims of police violence, and to the African American community more broadly, which as a whole has been a victim of long-standing discriminatory practices...We express our support for the African American community’s public protests against the Cincinnati Police Department and the Cincinnati City government...We condemn the Cincinnati Police Department for its handling of the current protests over the killing of Timothy Thomas...” The statement was a joint product of the Coalition For a Humane Economy, the Cincinnati Zapatista Coalition, Cincinnati Refuse and Resist!, the Greater Cincinnati Defend Mumia Abu-Jamal Coalition, Solidarity, the International Socialist Organization, and Anti-Racist Action.
The violence continued that night, although reduced to scattered incidents. Another 82 people, including 22 juveniles, were arrested, as police cracked down. A policeman was hit by a bullet Wednesday night but escaped injury because he was wearing a protective vest. Early Thursday morning residents broke into clothing and furniture stores, and fires continued to burn in several Cincinnati neighborhoods.
On Thursday, Cincinnati Mayor Charles Luken declared a state of emergency and said he might have to call in the National Guard by the weekend if the violence did not subside. Luken said that fatigued Cincinnati police, working 12-hour shifts, might need outside reinforcements to bring rioting under control, particularly with the evidence that it was spreading. He announced a citywide curfew: only people going to and from work would be allowed on the streets between 8 pm and 6 am; a conviction of curfew violation is punishable by 6 months in jail and a $1,000 fine.
Referring to the efforts of “community leaders” to defuse the situation, he said, ‘’The results of our work in trying to calm things down are not seen in the streets tonight. We’re just going to have to do whatever it takes to bring it under control. It has to stop.’’ The Hamilton County Sheriff’s office was asked to provide helicopter surveillance. In Washington President Bush said through a spokesman that he joined civic leaders “in their appeal ... for calm.”
Friday morning, the fire division declared a large area in Cincinnati a “hot zone.” A “hot zone” is an area where firefighters and emergency medical units will answer calls only if accompanied by a police escort. One hundred and twenty-five riot-trained Ohio State Highway Patrol officers arrived to aid Cincinnati police. Sheriff’s deputies continued to provide helicopter surveillance, and also assisted on the ground.
“In a city where 15 black men have died at the hands of police since 1995 -- including four since November -- the issue is getting the police under control,” said Canon Vicar Kwasi Thornell, a Black Episcopal clergyman at Christ Church Cathedral. “If they don’t see that, they’re missing the boat.’’ James Diamond, dean of the cathedral, added, “Black men, African-American men, in this city have a reason to be afraid. As a white person, I’m afraid for them.’’
Cincinnati’s Safety Director Kent Ryan, supervisor of the police and fire divisions, resigned, leaving the Chief of Police, Tom Streicher, as Acting Safety Director.
Local radio stations broadcast information about school closings, cancellations and rescheduled events. With the curfew in effect, Cincinnati’s streets had a ghostly, unreal look on Friday night.
Chief Tom Streicher said that Saturday would be important. “Saturday is going to be a crucial day,’’ he said. ‘’We look for Saturday to be a potential turning point for us in this whole event.’’ He said that police informants had told him to expect violence after Timothy Thomas’ funeral.
African drum music pounded the packed area outside the site of the funeral at the New Prospect Baptist Church. Members of Louis Farrakhan’s Nation of Islam stood along with New Black Panther Party members.
A couple hundred people surrounded the African drum band, waved African flags, and held signs saying, “It Is Right To Rebel” and “It’s Time To Shoot Back.”
Mr. Thomas’ silver casket was brought into the church adorned with two dozen red carnations. Tears flowed from Thomas’ relatives, who filled the first four rows of seats in the church. Hundreds of mourners were told Thomas’ death was a tragedy that raised awareness of the struggles of blacks in the city. “This is not a riot. This is a rebellion,” Malik Zulu Shabazz, national spokesman for the New Black Panther Party told hundreds of mourners. Shabazz later chanted “black power” three times, bringing cheers from those inside the church and others outside who listened to a broadcast of the service. The Rev. Damon Lynch III said, “All you need to do is hold on. Right now we have the world looking at Cincinnati. The world needs to see first of all that Black men know how to stand up and be counted. Stand up for justice. Stand up against oppression.” Stepfather Eric Leisure read poems that family members wrote about Thomas, and when Angela Leisure closed the casket many in the audience sobbed.
As Mr. Thomas’ casket was brought out of the New Prospect Baptist Church, the crowd of more than 1,000 outside went silent and lined the street to allow it passage.
Into this period of relative calm and closure, the Cincinnati police chose to inject a final controversial act. In broad daylight, in front of hundreds of witnesses, including reporters and photographers, a squad car pulled up to a number of people walking to a park from the funeral. Four Cincinnati police officers jumped out and fired “less than lethal” ammunition into the crowd. They hit a 7-year-old Black girl and her 11-year-old cousin, a 34-year-old white woman, and a 50-year-old Black man. The woman, Louisville teacher Christine Jones, was hospitalized with a bruised spleen, cracked rib and bruised lung. The officers remain on duty while the investigation continues.
Sources: Associated Press, Cincinnati Enquirer, Reuters, Asheville Global Report, et. al.