A Cincinnati courtroom was flooded with members of the county sheriff’s office as they all faced the man who is accused of killing one of their colleagues. However, authorities claim there’s a connection the suspect has with the fallen officer that makes the killing seem more like a revenge plot.
Saturday, 38-year-old Rodney Hinton Jr. is facing charges in connection to the killing of Hamilton County Sheriff’s Deputy Larry Henderson. Authorities say the afternoon of Friday, May 2, the deputy was standing outside his patrol car doing traffic control at the intersection of Martin Luther King Drive and Burnet Woods Drive, per FOX19. Suddenly, a vehicle drove right through the intersection and struck Henderson.
Authorities said he died later at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center. The officer was with the department for 33 years, according to Sheriff Charmaine McGuffey. Police then identified the driver as Hinton. As officers investigated the incident, the motive for the seemingly random hit-and-run was unclear - that is until they discovered who the suspect was related to.
Hinton is the father of 18-year-old Ryan Hinton, a Black teen who was shot and killed by police as he tried to flee arrest after being stopped on suspicion of stealing a car, per the Cincinnati Enquirer. Police say Ryan pointed a firearm at the police before fleeing. However, an attorney for the family said the blurred body camera footage doesn’t clearly show a gun in Ryan’s hand nor him aiming at the cops. He also said the family reviewed the body camera footage hours before the deputy was fatally struck. Mr. Hinton couldn’t bear to watch the whole video, the attorney said, via the Cincinnati Enquirer.
“He couldn’t finish watching the video. It was very difficult to watch for the family,” said Cochran Law Firm attorney Michael Wright, per the report.
For this reason, prosecutors believe Hinton’s actions were intentional. Though, it’s unclear if Henderson was one of the responding deputies involved in his son’s shooting. Saturday, Hinton appeared in court to be arraigned on one count of aggravated murder. He’s being held in the Clermont County Jail without bond for his safety, the judge said, via FOX19.