Justice for Samuel DuBose: White Officer Charged with Murder After Fatally Shooting Unarmed Black Man in the Head

On July 19, an African-American man named Samuel DuBose was shot and killed by Ray Tensing, a 25-year-old white officer. 

In what seemed like a routine traffic stop ended in the senseless death of a 43-year-old father of 10. DuBose was initially pulled over in his green 1998 Honda Accord south of the university campus for having a missing front license plate.

Officer Tensing was wearing a body cam at the time, capturing everything that went down: (See video below)

The recording shows the officer asking Dubose about a bottle he sees on the floor of his car, and Dubose hands it to him. (Officials have previously said it was a bottle of alcohol.) He then asks Dubose several times if he has his license on him.

Dubose asks what he's being pulled over for. He tells the officer he has a license, but it's not on him.

After Tensing asks him if his license is suspended, a short scuffle ensues. A few seconds later, Dubose is shot in the head while still behind the wheel of the car.

Tensing claimed that after he refused to show his license, DuBose put the keys into his ignition and was making an attempt to speed away, prompting the officer to shoot him the head, fearing that he would be dragged and ran over by Dubose's car. 

“He wasn’t dealing with someone wanted for murder. He was dealing with someone who didn’t have a front license plate. This is, in the vernacular, a pretty chicken crap stop, right? I could use harsher words,” said Joe Deters, a prosecutor working on the case. “If he’s rolling away then let him go. You don’t have to shoot him in the head.”

If convicted, Tensing could go to prison for life, said Deters in a press conference. Deters claimed that the  body camera footage of the shooting clearly contradicts Tensing's version of the incident.

"I've been doing this for over 30 years. This is the most asinine act I've ever seen a police officer make -- totally unwarranted," said Deters. "It's an absolute tragedy in the year 2015 that anyone would behave in this manner. It was senseless."

After watching the video for herself, DuBose's mother said:"Seeing that video let me know that my son did absolutely nothing ... to provoke this man," 

Over the last year, a series of fatal incidents involving police officers have sparked a national debate about how law enforcement uses force, particularly toward minorities. The deaths of unarmed black men like Eric Garner in New York and Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo., were followed by nationwide protests that erupted again after the officers involved in both situations were not charged.

This situation also illuminates the mysterious death of a 28-year-old African American woman named Sandra Bland. She died while in police custody after being arrested after being pulled over for not properly signaling a lane change. Officials have said that her death is at the result of a suicide while her family believes foul play was involved.  

Body Cam Video Shows Samuel Dubose Shooting; Warning: Images May be Graphic