Death of sheriff's deputy is first alleged murder of police officer in 5 years within Greater Cincinnati
The murder of a police officer in the line of duty in the Greater Cincinnati region is a relatively rare occurrence. However, it is a possible danger that first responders face that is unfortunately being thrust back into the spotlight once again this week after the recent death of Hamilton County Sheriff's Office deputy Larry Henderson.
On Friday, 38-year-old Rodney Hinton Jr. is alleged to have purposefully rammed his car into Henderson, who was retired and had picked up a special detail that day to assist with traffic at the corner of Martin Luther King Drive and Burnet Woods Drive. The intersection is adjacent to the University of Cincinnati, which was holding graduation ceremonies on campus on Friday. This crash came after Hinton's son, 18-year-old Ryan Hinton, was fatally shot and killed by Cincinnati police the morning before in East Price Hill.
Hinton currently faces a single count of aggravated murder, a charge that carries a mandatory sentence of either life in prison or the death penalty under Ohio state law if convicted. His next court date is Tuesday, when he will be expected to enter a plea.
The horrifying incident is garnering even more shock for its relative rarity. It has been five years since a uniformed police officer was last alleged to have been intentionally murdered in the line of duty in the Cincinnati region, with the last known incident coming during the very first days of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Across the entire country as a whole, that 60 police officers died in 2023 as a result of "felonious deaths" in the line of duty. Before that, a near-identical number of 61 were killed in 2022.
It is still too early to know for sure how Hinton's trial will play out and whether it will also be classified under that "felonious death" category. The category is ultimately dependent on someone involved with the death being convicted of a felony, and if Hinton is found guilty of the charge of aggravated murder that he faces, the death would fall under this classification. However, if he is acquitted, the case would not have a felony attached to it, and instead fall into the FBI's "accidental death" category. Similar groups that track officer deaths, , also classify officer deaths in similar manners dependent on whether felony convictions occur in relation to an officer's death.
Hinton has not yet entered a plea of guilty or not guilty in the case.
In terms of cases that have already been adjudicated, however, the last known intentional murder of a police officer in Greater Cincinnati stands as Officer Kai LaFay Grant of the Springdale Police Department. Grant was killed on March 21, 2020. This, , came after 42-year-old Terry Blankenship drove his truck directly into Grant on the highway at the intersection of I-275 and State Route 4 as she was deploying Stop Sticks there.
Blankenship had been fleeing from police in his pickup truck after assaulting the boyfriend of his estranged wife, before threatening to commit suicide by cop.
After hitting Grant, Blankenship later shot himself in the head immediately afterward as his truck came to a rest on the side of the highway. However, Blankenship was immediately rushed to the hospital and did not die from his wound.
In 2021, Blankenship pleaded guilty to aggravated murder for Grant's death, for which he is still serving a life sentence.
Before that, there were just two other recorded murders of police officers that have been known to have occurred over the past 10 years within the Greater Cincinnati region.
A year before Grant's death, a similar situation had played out on Feb. 2, 2019, in Clermont County. This is when the Clermont County Sheriff's Office received a report of a man who was threatening to kill himself. There, Deputy Bill Brewer was killed while responding to the call at the man's apartment building in Pierce Township.
The man, Wade Winn, had barricaded himself inside his apartment and threatened for several hours to kill himself as police stood outside in an attempt to intervene. Negotiations were underway for much of the evening between police and Winn in an attempt to save Winn's life, before eventually Winn fired off a single gunshot, leading officers to believe he may have killed himself. However, as police entered the building, Winn instead open fired on officers.
Gunfire struck Brewer, ultimately killing him. A second deputy, Nicholas DeRose, was injured in the incident.
Winn was ultimately apprehended by police later that night by a SWAT team breach of the home. He later pleaded guilty to aggravated murder and is now serving a life sentence.
However, in terms of the city of Cincinnati itself, you have to go back 10 years to find another parallel for when an officer was killed within city limits. This is when Cincinnati Police Department officer Sonny Kim was killed after responding to a call within Madisonville. This occurred after police received a report of an armed man who was drunk and acting belligerently around others on a residential street. As Kim went to retrieve a taser from his car, police say the man, 21-year-old Trepierre Hummons, open fired on Kim, striking him three different times and fatally wounding him.
Afterwards, another officer on the scene then returned fire on Hummons, fatally striking him as well.
Both Kim and Hummons were then transported to the University of Cincinnati Medical Center, where they each were pronounced dead.
Both the and , which track and honor fallen police officers who have died in the line of duty, have not since recorded any other murders of police officers within Greater Cincinnati since 2015. This includes none in northern Kentucky and southeast Indiana during the past decade.
Officials from across Cincinnati and the state of Ohio have since rushed to condemn the act of violence and offer their support to Henderson's family, friends and colleagues.
"He was so well-liked and so well-known, we could fill this building with the law enforcement agencies that respect him (and) love him," Hamilton County Sheriff Charmaine McGuffey said on Friday of Henderson.
Meanwhile, Cincinnati Mayor Aftab Pureval said on Friday, "Tonight, the entirety of the City of Cincinnati and Hamilton County mourn the loss of a brave public servant and Sheriff바카라 게임 웹사이트s deputy. Every day, law enforcement and public safety employees make sacrifices and take on enormous risks to protect residents. Tonight, we have tragically lost someone who took that selfless oath. This is a heartbreaking moment for our community. To all friends, family, and fellow officers, we are holding you in our thoughts."
Ohio Governor Mike DeWine also offered his condolences on Friday, writing, "Fran and I are saddened to learn about the Hamilton County deputy hit by a vehicle and killed in the line of duty today. I have been briefed on the ongoing investigation and am sickened by what appears to be an intentional act of violence. We offer our sincere condolences to the deputy바카라 게임 웹사이트s family, friends, and colleagues."
Flags across the state of Ohio will be flown at half-staff under DeWine's orders until the end of the day that Henderson's funeral is held. McGuffey says that her office will publicly announce funeral plans for Henderson in the coming days.
Hinton is next due in court on Tuesday.