Rodney Hinton Jr. sat down with his family the day after learning that his 18-year-old son had been killed by Cincinnati police to watch the body camera footage of the teenager’s final moments. Hinton left the police station before the video ended because she was too distraught to watch it all the way through.
A few hours later, prosecutors say, he drove his car at high speed into officer Larry Henderson, who was directing college graduation traffic at an intersection, killing him. Henderson, a 57-year-old father of five, retired last December after more than 30 years as a Hamilton County Sheriff’s Deputy, but he returned on occasion for special duty. He had nothing to do with the teen’s death and appeared to have been chosen solely because he was a police officer.
In the weeks following the car attack, Hinton has gained thousands of online supporters, fan edits of his court appearances have gone viral with millions of views, and nearly $100,000 has been donated to his defense and family. Hinton’s supporters have attempted to situate his actions within the context of institutional police violence against Black people.
“A lot of African Americans are tired of the police seemingly unjustifiably killing Black individuals without recourse or punishment,” Hinton’s attorney, Clyde Bennett, told The Independent.
Some believe Hinton’s outburst was motivated by the pain of losing a son to police. Others compare it to the alleged murder of a healthcare executive by Luigi Mangione, who is frequently portrayed as a cult hero fighting the health insurance industry.
The actor’s “actions have been received and accepted by a lot of people because they can identify and relate to his experience, and they believe that they can understand why he did what he did, because they may have done the same thing in similar circumstances,” Bennett wrote. If convicted of two counts of aggravated murder against the retired deputy, Hinton could face the death penalty. Bennett stated that his client intends to plead not guilty by reason of insanity, explaining that seeing the video of his son’s death triggered a psychiatric episode.
“I have the medical records to prove it; he was not in the right frame of mind when he committed the act. Because of his mental state, he was unable to recognize the wrongness of his actions. “I believe he was insane at the time,” Bennett stated.
Ryan Hinton was killed by police, and the investigation is ongoing.
Police bodycam footage from May 2 in Cincinnati’s East Price Hill neighborhood shows officers approaching a stolen vehicle parked on a dead-end street, with four men fleeing the vehicle.
A man later identified as Ryan Hinton is seen darting out from between two dumpsters and away from the cops. As he does so, one of the officers repeatedly shouts “He’s got a gun!” Another officer opens fire and continues to shoot as Hinton runs past him.
Police later released photographs of a loaded gun that they claim Hinton was holding. According to the coroner, the round that likely killed Hinton entered just under his armpit, ricocheted off a rib, struck his heart, and exited the front through his chest.
Cincinnati police chief Teresa Theetge defended the officer who fired the shots.
“According to the officer’s interviews, the officer who discharged his firearm stated that the individual came out between the dumpsters with the firearm in front of him. He was in a bladed position, with the gun pointed at the officer, and he felt threatened for his life. “That’s why he discharged his firearm,” Theetge explained.
The day after the shooting, Hinton and the rest of Ryan Hinton’s family were invited to the police station to view the footage for themselves.
Theetge met with the family at 9:30 a.m. to go over the footage. Hinton “was so upset he left the building,” Hamilton County Prosecutor Connie Pillich said at a press conference after only 20 minutes.
Hinton’s family was concerned about his mental state in the hours after he saw the footage.
Just after 1 p.m., Hinton pulled over into the middle lane and looked down a hill to see Henderson, a marine veteran, directing traffic at an intersection for the University of Cincinnati’s spring graduation ceremony. Henderson stood just off the road, under a tree for shade.
Hinton then “floors the vehicle,” according to Pillich, crosses into traffic lanes, and strikes Henderson.
“He never veers off course, he never slows down,” she told me.
Hinton appeared in court for his arraignment the next day. The courtroom was packed with local police officers and a large number of Hinton Jr.’s family members.
Soon after, videos of the appearance began to circulate on TikTok and other social media platforms. One video, which received over 412,000 likes, showed Hinton walking past a long line of police officers in the courtroom while listening to Sam Cooke’s civil rights anthem ‘A Change is Gonna Come.’
Another version of the same clip, captioned “the hate in their eyes” (referring to the police officers), had received 1.6 million likes.
T-shirts, yard signs, and mugs with the image of Hinton in an orange jumpsuit walking by the police officers in the courtroom and the words “Free Rodney Hinton Jr.” can be purchased online for $20 each.
In Cincinnati, Hinton’s actions were widely condemned. However, online, they sparked a debate about the long-term impact of police violence on Black Americans.
“Rodney Hinton Jr.’s actions were a direct result of watching his son’s bodycam footage. But I also believe that DECADES of watching Black people suffer at the hands of police brutality and being failed by the justice system influenced his actions,” wrote Cindy Noir, a podcaster and commentator.
Another writer likened the killing to that of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.
“If you’re on Team Luigi Mangione, you should also support Rodney Hinton Jr. “Both men were pushed to the brink by violent systems—one by health insurance, the other by the murder of his child by police,” wrote Leslie Vargas for Afropunk.
“However, only one is treated with sympathy. America always has sympathy for white rage while criminalizing Black grief. This is not about what is justifiable; it is about who is allowed to be seen as human. “Justice in this country still depends on the color of your skin,” she said.
In the days following the incident, the Black Panthers met in Cincinnati to organize support for the father.
“We want to cause an epidemic of the thinking expressed by Rodney Hinton,” said Mmoja Ajabu, a Black Panther leader, during the meeting.
GoFundMe removed more than a dozen campaigns set up for him in the days following his arrest to help pay for legal fees, which quickly raised $5,000. That was shut down due to police union protests, but another fundraiser set up by Hinton’s sister on a different website has raised more than $53,000 as of this writing. A separate fundraiser set up by his wife has now raised $48,000.
“Dylan Roof, Kyle Rittenhouse, Derek Chauvin and the rest of those racist bigots had go fund me after killing black men for no reason so we can donate to our people,” a donor wrote on the fundraiser’s page.
Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost held a press conference on Tuesday, urging GiveSendGo, the website that hosts the fundraisers, to remove them.
“We shouldn’t be crowdfunding an evildoer,” Yost said, admitting that the company had not violated any laws.
Bennett, Hinton’s attorney, stated that the case had divided public opinion.
“You have a segment of the community that believes what he did was evil and retaliatory, and it was done with a sound mind. And then you have the other half of the community saying, “I understand how he could be triggered and have a psychiatric episode as a result of seeing his son killed,” he told The Independent.
Meanwhile, Hinton’s family has distanced itself from the online debate.
“Everybody is hurting from this,” said Ryan’s grandfather, Rodney Hinton Sr, during an emotional press conference. “The family, the officer, the mother.”
“I was crying about what happened to the officer, so that was the whole point. It’s all about healing one another. Everyone makes mistakes. “It was an emotional mistake,” he explained.
Hinton Jr.’s wife, Anna Booker-Hinton, criticized media coverage of the case on her husband’s fundraising page.
“The media is twisting this tragic incident, attempting to portray Rodney—an African American father in pain—as an angry man lashing out. But I am absolutely certain that Rodney did not act in retaliation. “He was a grieving father in excruciating pain,” she wrote.
Hundreds attended Henderson’s funeral service on May 9, including dozens of police cruisers from across the state.
Ryan Hinton was laid to rest just over a week later, with mourners wearing red, his favorite color, in honor.