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CNN Saturday Morning News
Timothy Thomas' Funeral to be Held Today
Aired April 14, 2001 - 08:12 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Today Cincinnati will embrace the memory of a young black man who was shot by a white police officer. It was a shooting that not only impacted his friends and family, but an entire community, sparking three nights of violence and a dusk to dawn curfew.
CNN national correspondent Bob Franken has been following this story and joins us live from Cincinnati, where Timothy Thomas' funeral will take place today -- good morning, Bob.
BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Kyra.
And officials are making no bones about it, they call today "crucial," by which they mean that they're concerned that the funeral service will once again raise emotions and could cause further trouble, trouble that, as you pointed out, that occurred for three nights after last Saturday's shooting of Timothy Thomas. It was only a couple of blocks from here in a section of the city called Over-the- Rhine.
He was being chased by police. The police officer who shot him says he believed that the young man had gone for a gun. But he was unarmed and the city has erupted, as you know, into sporadic confrontations with the police all week long.
The confrontations stopped after a curfew was imposed, a curfew that went into its second night overnight, an 8:00 P.M. to 6:00 A.M. curfew that was enforced by police who would come up and make arrests of just about anybody who was not authorized to be on the streets.
As you can see, the police officers would ask a few questions. If they didn't get the satisfactory answers, they would, in fact, take somebody into custody. There have been scores of people who have, in fact, been taken into custody. It is a misdemeanor punishable up to six months in prison if you are not able to, in fact, follow the law and when a curfew is put into effect.
City officials say that they're going to continue on a day to day basis to assess whether the curfew should stay in effect. There is no question that it will be overnight as they try and tamp down any emotions that may come as a result of this funeral. And if things quiet down, they will probably abandon their quest to consider bringing in the Ohio National Guard. There are already reinforcements for the beleaguered police department here from the Ohio Highway Patrol and County Sheriff's Department. The question about the Guard, we'll wait to see what happens after today.
At the same time, many people who have been criticizing the Cincinnati Police Department for decades are saying now is the time to try and correct the hostility that seems to exist between the police and the African-American community. That is something that city officials promise that they're going to do something about. They're going to also have assistance from the federal government. The attorney general is sending in investigators to see if there are civil rights violations that have occurred.
In any case, the first order of business is to get past today and allow the remains of Timothy Thomas to be buried at funeral services and then let the city, as well as the family, try and recover -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: All right, Bob Franken, thanks so much.
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