Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Hey Department of Justice!  Smitherman Says Intervene!

Posted by The Dean of Cincinnati

February 13, 2008

United States Department of Justice
Criminal Section -PHB
Civil Rights Division
950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20530

Dear Brian A. Benczkowski:

In November 2000 Roger Owensby Jr. died in police custody having been brutally beaten by Cincinnati Police Officers. Roger Owensby was mistakenly identified as a criminal suspect known by the alias “LA”. Roger Owensby Jr. did not fit the description of “LA”. The tragedy of this situation is that Mr. Owensby Jr. was on active duty through two wars (Bosnia and Desert Storm) on behalf of the United States of America. This means these police officers murdered an unarmed African American Military Veteran on his home soil.

Officer Patrick Caton was fired by the City of Cincinnati but returned to work with $200,000 in back pay. He was recently promoted to sergeant on Martin Luther King (MLK) weekend and assigned to communities which are highly populated with African American residents. His promotion on MLK weekend and his public thanks of the second officer involved in the Owensby murder, Blaine Jorg, has created a “powder keg"environment in Cincinnati, Ohio.

This letter is to request your immediate intervention. I requested your intervention as a City Councilmember in 2003. I am now the President of the Local Chapter of the NAACP and yet again request your intervention. Your lack of involvement I believe has permitted these series of events to occur. I am very frustrated that the Federal Government refuses to protect Mr. Owensby Jr.’s civil rights and therefore the rights of all African Americans in the United States. Mr. Owensby Jr., a military veteran, has been deceased for 8 years with no action by the Department of Justice. Again, I formally request on behalf of the Owensby Family that the Department of Justice charge Officers Caton and Jorg with violating Mr. Owensby, Jr.’s. civil rights. This action would be seen by the African American Community as a small step toward reconciliation and healing.

Sincerely,

Christopher Smitherman
President of the Cincinnati NAACP

cc: Cincinnati City Councilmembers
John Conyers, Congressman Chairman of the Judiciary Committee
Dennis Courtland-Hayes, Interim President & CEO of the NAACP
Eric Kearney, Ohio Senator
Mark Mallory, Mayor of Cincinnati
Roger Owensby Sr.
Ted Strickland, Governor of Ohio
Tyrone Yates, Ohio State Representative
Carl Levin, Michigan Senator

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says:
14 Feb 2008  at  06:26 am | #

Not sure one can “protect” the rights of the deceased but one can prosecute a violation of those rights.

“Powder Keg”?  What powder keg?  Looks like Chris took a page from Alicia Reece’s “long hot summer” playbook.

To paraphrase Kabaka Oba, “Now lookyheere Chris Smitherman”:  you were silent about Owensby from 2000 until AFTER you were elected.  You were a moral coward on this then and you still are.  You are little better than Jesse Jackson dipping your shirt sleeve into Roger’s metaphorical blood.  You don’t let the facts obscure your opinion.  Your missives are long on rhetoric and short on information.  You fail to attribute sources.  You did nothing while on City Council to “prohibit” Caton’s return to the force or his promotion.  You write poorly.  Please stop.

anonymous says:
14 Feb 2008  at  08:43 am | #

What “powder keg” the one created by cop-hating one-time councilman smitherman?

We the People says:
14 Feb 2008  at  10:51 am | #

Dear Mr Benczkowski,
Recently you received a letter from Christopher Smitherman, president of the Cincinnati NAACP (an organization representing a very small fraction of Cincinnati residents).  In his letter, Mr Smitherman has misrepresented the facts surrounding the case of Roger Owensby, in order to fan the fires of his own fame and fortune, as a civil rights “leader”.  Mr Owensby’s death while tragic, is ultimately the result of his own actions.  Furthermore his status as a veteran, did not earn him the right to disregard instructions given by a police officer in the performance of his duties.  Mr Owensby could have best protected his civil rights by exercising appropriate compliance with the officers instructions.  Please regard Mr Smithermans assessment of the situation as a “powder keg”; as what, in actuality, he is trying to create.  The current situation could better described, as a tempest in a teapot.  However, should Mr Smitherman be successful in his efforts to incite more violent racial unrest in our city, we would welcome a federal investigation into his activities.

Sincerely,

We the People

Council Watcher says:
14 Feb 2008  at  01:38 pm | #

Thank God for the wisdom of “Urbanist II is Dead”!!!!!!!

cincysuz says:
14 Feb 2008  at  07:15 pm | #

Dear Mr. Benczkowski,

Please disregard the recent letter sent by “We the People.” He/she represents him/herself, not Cincinnatians. Many Cincinnatians are united in their outrage that Officer Caton was not vigorously prosecuted and was rehired with back pay and rank after being fired for his involvement in the death of Mr. Owensby. Now he has even been promoted despite displaying continued racist behavior even after Mr. Owensby was killed. The evidence is irrefutable that Mr. Owensby’s life was taken unnecessarily, brutally and without cause. The settlement to the family confirms that.

An investigation into what appears to be collusion between the Hamilton County prosecutor’s office and the police department and possibly other persons in positions of power and influence in Cincinnati will never happen at the local level. This is one case only, but there is a long standing pattern of ignoring, covering up, undercharging or not charging police officers and now even rewarding one, when they have visited aggregious acts upon citizens up to and including resulting in those citizens’ deaths

Cincinnati has a good, dedicated police force. Most officers that have sworn to protect and serve do just that, without fail, day in and day out.  The work of the majority good officers, is jeopardized by the few rogue police officers that receive protection from the courts and the police union. It compromises the image of the department as well as the safety of the public.

Intervention by an outside authority seems warranted and overdue. The former Hamilton County prosecutor was not, and the current prosecutor is not, equipped or willing to pursue cases that involve violation of civil rights and particularly incidents that involve white police officers. That’s why this case and cases like this should be placed under authority of the federal government.

Sincerely,

Cincysuz

JFD says:
15 Feb 2008  at  01:49 pm | #

CS #5: “The settlement to the family confirms that.”

The settlement serves to prove only that Charlie Luken was a weak ass Mayor, and Council was no braver.  The not guilty verdict by a jury says more.

When is Smitherman going to use his position to advance the cause of colored people that are being killed by other colored people?  For every black criminal killed by a cop there are at least a hundred killed by another black.  Where is Smthermans outrage over that?  I guess it got lost in his racially divisive agenda.

anonymous says:
15 Feb 2008  at  07:40 pm | #

And its lost in his over-inflated ego!

cincysuz says:
16 Feb 2008  at  06:57 am | #

That analogy, so often posed, is so ridiculous. Criminals are expected to kill criminals, be they white or black. It’s a sad truth. That’s why they get arrested, tried, convicted and incarcerated.

The police officer, who by the way works for us, has a different mission. To protect and serve. Criminals or lawbreakers are not on the taxpayers payroll working on our behalf. There should be not once incident of police abuse against a citizen no matter what the rate of citizen on citizen crime. One has nothing to do with the other.

Maybe you’re prepared to do away with due process and allow the cop on the street to be the judge and jury. I’m not.  When you support police abuse, you disrespect every good police officer that plays by the rules.

JFD says:
16 Feb 2008  at  08:42 am | #

CS#8: “Criminals are expected to kill criminals, be they white or black. It’s a sad truth. That’s why they get arrested, tried, convicted and incarcerated.”

They can also be expected to attack police officers.  Be they black or white, that’s why they sometime die as a result of the choices they make during their interactions with the police.  It’s a sad truth.

cincysuz says:
16 Feb 2008  at  07:06 pm | #

That’s not the truth with Roger Owensby.

says:
28 Feb 2008  at  06:27 am | #

Urbanists II Is Dead says:
14 Feb 2008 at 06:26 am | # To paraphrase Kabaka Oba, “Now lookyheere Chris Smitherman”:  you were silent about Owensby from 2000 until AFTER you were elected.  You were a moral coward on this then and you still are.  You are little better than Jesse Jackson dipping your shirt sleeve into Roger’s metaphorical blood.  You don’t let the facts obscure your opinion.  Your missives are long on rhetoric and short on information.  You fail to attribute sources.  You did nothing while on City Council to “prohibit” Caton’s return to the force or his promotion.  You write poorly.  Please stop.

nothing like insulting the dead....

JFD says:
28 Feb 2008  at  11:33 am | #

SJD: “nothing like insulting the dead....”

Smitherman is not dead; and Urbanist said nothing negative about Owensby.  What is it you mean?