Sam Dubose Obituary, Death – The unarmed shooting death of Samuel DuBose during a traffic stop for a missing front license plate and a suspended driver’s license by Ray Tensing, a University of Cincinnati police officer, fueled the growth of the Black Lives Matter movement. During a traffic stop for a missing front license plate and a suspended driver’s license, Tensing shot and killed DuBose. Protests on a national scale erupted in response to the incident, similar to those seen in the aftermath of the deaths of Trayvon Martin, Tamir Rice, and Walter Lamar Scott. Samuel DuBose was born in Cincinnati, Ohio on March 12, 1972. Throughout the course of his life, DuBose has been a rapper, music producer, entrepreneur, and motorcycle enthusiast.
He was also a founding member of the motorcycle club Ruthless Riders. He was also the father of thirteen children. Between 1995 and 2009, he was pulled over thirteen times for driving without a license and four times for having an incorrect license plate. In total, he was charged with seventeen traffic violations. He was sentenced to less than a year in state prison for marijuana distribution in 2005. Tensing pulled DuBose over in Cincinnati’s Mount Auburn neighborhood around 6:30 p.m. on July 19, 2015, for failing to properly display a front license plate. The occurrence was captured by Tensing’s body camera as it occurred. Tensing asked Dubose for his driver’s license, and Dubose said he had one but wasn’t carrying it with him at the time. Tensing then inquired about the status of his driver’s license with DuBose.
At that point, he began opening the driver’s door and ordering DuBose to remove his seat belt. Tensing drew his gun and shot DuBose, who died instantly as a result of the incident. When Tensing did the same, DuBose had just locked the door and started the car to flee the scene. Several witnesses testified that DuBose’s car was moving before Tensing fired the shot.
