Cincinnati police officers accused of pointing a shotgun at a former Green Bay Packers football player during a 2001 traffic stop have been largely exonerated by the city's Office of Municipal Investigation.

        Vinnie Clark, a graduate of the Cincinnati Academy of Physical Education and first-round draft pick for the Green Bay Packers in 1991, was leaving a downtown nightclub the night of Feb. 23, 2001. He had a passenger, Terry Horton.

        Police, acting on information from a bounty hunter that a wanted felon was driving a similar GMC Yukon, stopped Mr. Clark at the intersection of Eighth and Vine streets.

        The two men say a half-dozen officers unlawfully detained them, pointed a shotgun at Mr. Clark's face and illegally searched the car.

        The 29-page OMI report released by the city manager Friday exonerates the officers on two of the three charges: that they unlawfully detained the men and illegally searched their car.

        A third charge, that they used an excessive show of force, was “not sustained” — meaning there wasn't enough evidence to either support or refute the allegation.

        The supervising sergeant, Douglas Ibold, told investigators that the stop was by-the-book.

        “Guns are prevalent in District One and with the nature of the suspect that they were seeking — armed and dangerous — it was correct procedure to have our guns drawn,” Sgt. Ibold told investigators. “That's how we are trained.”

        The complaint was filed by attorney Kenneth L. Lawson, who called it a textbook case of racial profiling.

        Mr. Lawson did not return phone calls Monday.

        Mr. Clark's complaint is one of 28 alleged incidents of racial profiling included in a federal lawsuit against the city.

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