Saturday, March 20, 1999
Man fatally shot by police
Struggle followed traffic stop
BY TANYA BRICKING
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Carpenter
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A traffic stop in Northside turned deadly early Friday when two Cincinnati police officers struggled with a man wanted on domestic violence charges and fired 10 shots at him.
One bullet hit 30-year-old Michael Carpenter in the back of the head, and another hit his left arm. His family gathered at University Hospital Friday to grieve. He was taken off life support about 6 p.m. and died shortly after.
Mr. Carpenter had a lengthy criminal history and was twice convicted of assaulting police officers in Hamilton County.
McCurley
|
Miller
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It's unclear whether District 5 Officers Brent McCurley, 27, and his partner, Michael B. Miller II, 24, knew his record when they stopped him about 1:30 a.m. at the corner of Chase and Pitts avenues.
The officers were out of their cruiser when a struggle ensued and they fired at Mr. Carpenter, who was still in his car.
Mr. Carpenter was not armed with a gun, but police found a utility knife in his Pontiac, Chief Thomas Streicher Jr. said. He said the investigation will reveal whether the knife was used in the altercation.
Police are waiting to comment about exactly what happened before the shots were fired, he said.
Steve Wilkins, 27, who was in his home on Chase Avenue, heard the rapid gunfire. “Within 60 seconds of those shots, there were police all over the place,” he said.
The shooting has set off routine investigations by the police division's homicide and internal investigations units, the Hamilton County prosecutor's office, the city's independent Office of Municipal Investigations and the Citizens Police Advisory Commission.
The officers involved are on paid administrative leave pending an evaluation by a police psychologist.
Typical of their peers on the 1,000-member police force, the officers are young.
About 70 percent of the force has fewer than 10 years of experience. Officer Miller graduated from the police academy in December. His partner has been on the force for four years.
“I feel for those guys,” said Michael R. Clark, 43, who woke to see officers outside his home on Pitts Avenue. “My dad is a retired cop.”
The shooting comes at a time when the racially diverse neighborhood in the northwestern part of the city is trying to improve its image, marred in recent months by a string of arsons and a brutal stabbing in October.
“If you've been around here, you can see Hamilton Avenue is getting a real face lift,” Mr. Clark said. “Things like this certainly don't help.”
For Mr. Carpenter's family, the shooting also comes at a tumultuous time. It happened 10 days after his girlfriend in Over-the-Rhine sought an order for him to stay away because she claimed he beat her.
And four months ago his brother, DeJuan Carpenter, told police his brother tried to kill him with a kitchen knife and threatened to burn down the family's Northside apartment.
Mr. Carpenter, who was wanted on both of those charges, spent most of his adult life in trouble.
His introduction to the state prison system came in 1988, after he was convicted on theft charges. That was followed with more thefts and convictions for assaulting two police officers, aggravated menacing and drug abuse.
“I can't see his past activities have anything to do with what happened to him,” said the Rev. Damon Lynch Jr., former president of the Baptist Ministers Conference, a group that has been critical about police use of force. “We should be focusing on what happened and why they had to shoot.”
The Rev. Mr. Lynch said it's too early to draw conclusions, but he would like to talk to Chief Streicher about why the division stops so many drivers for “driving while black.” Chief Streicher said his door is open to anyone who wants to discuss community concerns.
Mr. Carpenter's shooting is the fourth fatal shooting by Cincinnati police in about a year.
• Officer Kathleen “Katy” Conway shot and killed an attacker Feb. 2, 1998, after Daniel T. Williams ambushed her cruiser in Over-the-Rhine and shot her. She killed the 41-year-old downtown man in self-defense.
• Jermaine Lowe, 21, of Mount Auburn was killed June 30 after he shot at police a block from the University of Cincinnati and officers returned fire.
• Officer Joseph Eichhorn Jr. shot suspected bank robber Randy Black to death July 17 as the 23-year-old fled a University of Cincinnati credit union and attacked the officer with an 8-pound chunk of concrete and a board with protruding nails.
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