The union representing a white police officer charged with murdering a black man during a traffic stop wants to help him get his job back.
The Fraternal Order of Police of Ohio filed a grievance on behalf of former University of Cincinnati Officer Ray Tensing on Wednesday, the same day Tensing was charged with murder and manslaughter in the July 19 killing of Sam DuBose. Tensing lost his job upon being charged.
Catherine Brockton, the union’s executive director, told The Huffington Post that Tensing won’t get his job back while charges against him are pending. But if he’s found not guilty and the police department doesn’t want to reinstate him, the union will argue in front of an arbiter who will ultimately decide whether Tensing can be reinstated.
“He hasn’t been convicted of anything,” Brockton said.
In December of last year, following a police union appeal, an arbiter ruled that the police department in Warren, Michigan, had to reinstate an officer who was caught on video forcibly hacking off a woman’s hair.
In a statement, the city said it “strongly” disagreed with the decision, but would abide by it nonetheless.
As for Tensing, he bonded out of jail hours after pleading not guilty during a preliminary hearing on Thursday. His father posted $100,000, or 10 percent of his $1 million bail, to get him released, according to Cincinnati’s Local 12 news station.
Tensing’s lawyer, Stewart Mathews, told the station that people around the country had offered to donate money to get his client released, but that Tensing hasn’t accepted any cash.