Last week, the city of Cincinnati officially exonerated the so-called Bean Bag Six.

You remember them. They're the five Cincinnati police SWAT officers and the Ohio state trooper who in April 2001 fired into a crowd of protesters after Timothy Thomas' funeral.

Two little girls, a 50-year-old man and a 37-year-old woman suffered injuries, mostly minor. The city paid tens of thousands of dollars in damages.

It's no surprise that the officers were exonerated. The city had been in a state of emergency, which gave police broader powers and protesters less leeway.

But the city's official report troubles me, because it ignores the 38 civilians who witnessed the incident and who, to a person, disputed key parts of the officers' stories.

So what's the truth? Was the crowd a threat, or did the officers overreact? Did they warn people before shooting?

If so, why did they leave the scene so fast?

The official story

It happened on a Saturday, three days after the city's worst racial unrest in decades had hit Over-the-Rhine. The city was in a state of emergency, and police were in combat mode.

At 4:09 p.m., it was still daylight. Reports had it that 50 to 100 people were partially blocking traffic at Elm and West Liberty streets.

Five officers and a trooper drove in with orders to clear the area.

The officers said they yelled and made hand motions, but the crowd refused to disperse.

Not one civilian witness said he heard warnings or saw hand signals.

An unanswered question: With the traffic and crowd noise, why didn't the officers use bullhorns or a cruiser PA system?

The officers said the crowd advanced toward them in a menacing way; some had bottles, sticks and rocks. Witnesses said the crowd was loud but not threatening.

The officers didn't call for backup, nor did the police officer in a helicopter overhead. There was time to; the officers said they were 59 feet away from the crowd.

The officers said they aimed at threatening targets: guys wearing red or blue bandanas or New Black Panther black.

The adults and children hit by the beanbag projectiles don't fit that description.

The officers said they left after the crowd dispersed.

Witnesses said the officers left immediately, but much of the crowd stayed.

Police officials a few blocks away sent investigators to the site. There were at least 40 people still there.

No rules broken

The city's report states that the officers and the trooper did not violate department rules, because there were no rules against shooting beanbag projectiles into crowds.

The department has since created some.

But SWAT team members and special response team members are considered elite officers, with an above-average ability to think on their feet in dangerous situations.

They shouldn't need a police manual to tell them not to shoot pellets into a crowd of people.

Besides, there are other, less dangerous methods of crowd control, which were amply displayed earlier that week.

Where were the mounted officers on horses, the lines of cops in riot-gear walking in unison and banging batons on shields, and the bullhorns barking into crowds?

What about tear gas and pepper spray?

I won't suggest fire hoses or police dogs; those indelible images from 1960s and 1970s civil rights newsreels still scare me.

But Cincinnati now has its own images of shameful protest put-downs. Those images won't be wiped away by a city administrative report.

E-mail damos@enquirer.com or phone 768-8395.