Rodney Hinton Jr., a Black father accused of avenging the police killing of his son by fatally hitting a deputy with his car, pleaded not guilty to the murder charges he faces. He also appeared as the plaintiff in a lawsuit filed against the police department. However, it’s unclear if he was even the one who actually filed it.
A lawsuit filed May 8 against Cincinnati police in Hinton’s name accuses the sheriff’s deputies of Hamilton County of “excessive force” the day of his arrest, claiming he appeared “visibly beaten” before going to court, per NBC News. The suit also claims Hinton was subject to an “atmosphere of fear, surveillance, and intimidation” when he appeared at his bond hearing, walking in to see a crowd of sheriff’s deputies staring him down.
Authorities say Hinton struck and killed Hamilton County Special Deputy Larry Henderson on May 2 just hours after viewing body camera footage of his son being fatally killed by other deputies from the department.
The suit claims Hinton was unlawfully detained without due process, and also lists allegations of conspiracy to deprive rights and emotional distress. The suit seeks $5 million in compensatory damages and $20 million in punitive damages.
Filing a whole lawsuit while behind bars on murder charges is definitely a plot twist we didn’t see coming. However, there’s an even bigger twist: Hinton’s criminal attorney claims his client actually had nothing to do with the filing.
“I had nothing to do with it. My client had nothing to do with it. We were totally unaware of it until it was reported by the media,” said attorney Clyde Bennett II, per The Cincinnati Enquirer.
So… who filed the lawsuit? The report says it was a woman named Antoinette Holloway, who is not listed as an attorney on the suit, but as a “next friend” — a legal term that Cornell Law School describes as a person who “appears in court in place of another who is not competent to do so.” When asked why she appeared to file the lawsuit without having even spoken to Hinton himself, she told The Enquirer she felt compelled to do so after following the news coverage of his case. She also stated she didn’t believe Hinton was provided adequate legal counsel.
She also filed a habeas corpus petition in federal court requesting Hinton be released from custody. Hinton was denied bond after being booked on counts of murder, aggravated murder and felonious assault.