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Former University of Cincinnati police officer Ray Tensing appears in court Thursday where his bail was set at $1 million.
Former University of Cincinnati police officer Ray Tensing appears in court Thursday where his bail was set at $1 million.

Plea innocent in Ohio traffic stop killing

CINCINNATI — A University of Cincinnati police officer who shot a motorist after stopping him over a missing front license plate pleaded innocent Thursday to charges of murder and voluntary manslaughter. Bail was set at $1 million.

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AP

Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (right), with correctional services chief Stephen Moyer, speaks Thursday in front of the Baltimore jail.

Ray Tensing, 25, later posted 10 percent of that amount and was released, the Hamilton County court clerk’s website said. He was freed about 6:30 p.m. Ohio time, county sheriff’s spokesman Mike Robison confirmed.

Tensing appeared at his arraignment wearing a striped jail suit, with his hands cuffed behind him. He was indicted Wednesday in the July 19 shooting of 43-year-old Samuel Du-Bose of Cincinnati during a traffic stop.

People in the courtroom audience cheered and clapped when bail was set at $1 million.

Defense attorney Stewart Mathews said there are two sides to the case and the officer’s much-viewed body camera video of the traffic stop can be interpreted differently from the prosecutor’s version.

He described Tensing as “very depressed” and “in shock,” adding the officer felt “like he’s been run over by a train from the start of this case.”

Tensing was fired soon after he was indicted.

Carter: At recruiters, some guns allowed

WASHINGTON — Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter has reminded military service chiefs that Defense Department policy does allow some military personnel to be armed while working at recruiting centers and ROTC offices.

Carter directed the military branches Thursday to review security policies — including adding armed personnel — after the July 16 attack at a Navy-Marine reserve center in Chattanooga that killed four Marines and a sailor.

Carter said in a memorandum released Thursday that the service secretaries should develop plans that include the option of armed personnel. Military personnel are generally prohibited from carrying firearms at recruitment centers and bases, but he reminded the chiefs that existing policy allows for armed personnel for security, law enforcement and counterintelligence duties.

Pentagon spokesman Capt. Jeff Davis said the memo is focused on facilities outside of military bases, such as recruiting stations and ROTC offices.

Rebel flags left near King’s church

ATLANTA — Police worked Thursday to identify two white men who were caught on surveillance camera laying Confederate battle flags neatly on the ground near the church where the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. once preached.

Atlanta police officer Gary Wade said a maintenance worker discovered the flags at 6 a.m. Thursday and notified the National Park Service, which operates the Martin Luther King Jr. National Historic Site, adjacent to the church.

Atlanta Police Chief George Turner said his agency was working with federal authorities and they have not determined what charges might be levied. Turner said they have not ruled out a hate crime.

The Rev. Raphael Warnock, senior pastor at Ebenezer Baptist Church, called placing the flags on church grounds a “terroristic threat” and referred to the recent mass shooting in a Charleston, S.C., church.

“This act by a cowardly and misguided individual or individuals is provocative to say the least. It ought to get the attention not only of black people, but of freedom-loving people,” he said.

Governor to close seamy Baltimore jail

BALTIMORE — Maryland’s governor announced plans Thursday to immediately shut down Baltimore’s state-run jail, where inmates and guards were indicted in a criminal conspiracy.

Republican Gov. Larry Hogan said the state would save $10 million to $15 million a year by closing the Baltimore City Detention Center. Current employees and inmates will be reassigned to other facilities, he said.

A federal indictment in 2013 exposed a sophisticated drug- and cellphone-smuggling ring involving dozens of gang members and correctional officers at the jail. The investigation also exposed sexual relations between jailhouse gang leader Tavon White and female guards that left four of them pregnant.

Forty of the 44 defendants charged in the racketeering conspiracy were convicted, including 24 correctional officers. White pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 12 years in prison.

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