Family statement: Rodney Hinton Jr. attended body camera footage meeting with CPD prior to officer death
Representatives of the Hinton family are offering more information about what happened in the interim between the shooting death of 18-year-old Ryan Hinton by Cincinnati police on Thursday morning and the alleged murder of a Hamilton County sheriff's deputy by 38-year-old Rodney Hinton Jr. on Friday afternoon.
The younger Hinton is alleged to have been killed by police at approximately 10 a.m. on Thursday morning in East Price Hill. This is after he, along with three other men, are alleged by police to have stolen a Kia out of Northern Kentucky and driven the car to the parking lot of an apartment complex on Warsaw Avenue. This later resulted in Hinton's death after he allegedly pointed a gun at a police officer while CPD attempted to apprehend the suspects.
Then, approximately 27 hours later on Friday around 1 p.m., the elder Hinton is alleged to have struck a sheriff's deputy along Martin Luther King Drive at the intersection with Burnet Woods Drive. The intersection is adjacent to the University of Cincinnati's main campus and the crash happened while graduation ceremonies were underway there.
Not much is known about what happened in the interim, however a new statement being released by The Cochran Firm, which is representing the Hinton family, is now offering more insight.
According to the statement released by the law firm, Rodney Hinton is said to have left a meeting with Cincinnati police on Friday where he and other family members were gathered to watch the police body camera footage that was captured the day before from the shooting death of Ryan Hinton. According to the statement from the law firm, he and other family members were "distraught" throughout the duration of the meeting.
As he left, the elder Hinton is said to have driven away in his car alone and not told anyone where he was going. The next anyone had heard from him, Hinton had crashed his car into a Hamilton County sheriff's deputy, resulting in the officer's death.
Ryan Hinton's family is being represented by attorneys Michael Wright, Shean Williams and Robert Gresham of The Cochran Firm as well as Anthony Pierson of Pierson and Pierson, LLC as they investigate the officer-involved shooting from Thursday.
Read the full statement from The Cochran Firm below.
"Our firm was hired by members of Ryan Hinton's family to conduct an investigation into his shooting death by an officer with the Cincinnati Police Department. We are in the preliminary stages of that investigation."
"Yesterday, we attended a meeting between the family and members of the Cincinnati Police Department to view body camera video of Ryan Hinton's shooting death."
"Ryan Hinton's family, including Ryan's father, was present at the meeting and they were understandably distraught as they watched the bodycam video. After the meeting with the police department, Ryan Hinton's father left in his own vehicle and that was the last we heard from him until learning about the tragic incident involving a law enforcement officer who was working a traffic detail near the University of Cincinnati."
"On behalf of Ryan Hinton's family, we offer our heartfelt condolences to the family and colleagues of the officer who was killed yesterday."
"This is an unimaginable tragedy for this community. Ryan Hinton's family is heartbroken by this tragic turn of events and we are all devastated for the family of the officer who was killed."