Barely even a local news story.
Man indicted in attack on officer. Prosecutor says he wanted to kill a white cop, Cincinnati.com, August 2, 2023A man was indicted Wednesday on charges he tried to kill a Cincinnati police officer, beating him with the officer’s own baton and Taser and trying to gouge the officer’s eyes out.
Brandon Claiborne, 34, is charged with attempted murder, aggravated robbery and felonious assault. Prosecutors say Claiborne, who is Black, wanted to kill a white police officer.
Prosecutor Melissa Powers said Officer Terry McGuffey suffered serious physical harm. Powers issued a statement Wednesday about what happened.
McGuffey responded to a call on July 23 at Sawyer Point for a report of a suspicious person.
“Officer McGuffey engaged in a brief conversation with Claiborne before Claiborne struck McGuffey in the face and wrestled him to the ground,” the statement said.
He grabbed McGuffey’s Taser and baton and use [sic] them to strike the officer.
“Claiborne attempted to gouge the officer’s eyes with his thumbs,” the statement said.
Claiborne is being held on a $1 million bond at the Hamilton County Justice Center. His next hearing is scheduled for Aug. 11.
“No person should have to fight for their life while being viciously attacked by another, this includes our law enforcement officers,” Cincinnati Police Chief Teresa Theetge. “It is my hope that with today’s indictment, this will send a clear message that violence towards another has no place in our society. I ask that we continue to keep Officer McGuffey in our thoughts and prayers as he recovers from what could have been a deadly encounter.”
What happens when you tell a racial group that police are deliberately targeting them for unlawful, unjustifiable arrests because of the color of their skin? That this group faces pervasive injustice forever keeping them from achieving any semblance of the American Dream? That the very air in the United States they breath is a toxic mixture of implicit bias, systemic inequality, and white privilege?
What happens? A black male tries to kill a white cop and it’s barely news in the city where it happened.
