Sonny Kim's widow pleads: Don't release video

The wife of Cincinnati Police Officer Sonny Kim, who was fatally shot in the line of duty, is pleading with the city not to release a video that shows the shooting aftermath.

Local media outlets, including The Enquirer, have asked to review the video recording, which was caught on the dash-cam of the second officer to arrive at the scene. Ohio law allows the public to view such recordings.

" ... For my kids, witnessing their father lying helplessly on the ground will only add to the devastation that they have already felt," Jessica Kim wrote in a letter to Mayor John Cranley, City Manager Harry Black and Police Chief Jeffrey Blackwell. "Sonny was their rock, strong and protective. They should not have to see a broken image of their father like that."

Jessica Kim, who has seen the video, said "the video clip will not add value to anyone, but instead add an even greater amount of pain."

Black called Officer Kim "a hero in every sense of the word," but acknowledged the city must abide by public records laws. "In this regard, I have asked the Law Department to carefully review this matter in order to advise on how best to proceed," he said.

On the morning of June 19, Kim, 48, was ambushed by Trepierre Hummons of Madisonville, according to Cincinnati police. Police received a call at 9:03 a.m. about a man with a gun at Whetsel Avenue and Rose Street in Madisonville. At 9:10 a.m., a second call came in to dispatchers. Kim, a nearly 30-year veteran of the department and longtime District 2 officer, responded.

It would later come out that Hummons made the 911 calls.

Hummons shot Kim, an act witnessed by Hummons' mother, who lived nearby, police said. She used Kim's radio to call for help. Frantic officers, including Tom Sandmann, hurried to the scene.

Sandmann pulled up and fatally shot Hummons. Sandmann's dash-camera video caught the shooting aftermath.

Friday afternoon, Hummons' father and grandmother joined Kim's widow's plea to keep the video from being released. In letters to the city, they argued it would harm Hummons' siblings to view the recording.

"Our family has just begun the process of putting pieces of our lives together again and the release of this footage will reopen wounds that are just beginning to heal," wrote Hummons' father, Ronald Hummons. "We had no choice in how our loved ones left us. Please have the compassion to allow us to choose how we heal."

Said Enquirer News Director Mike Kilian: "The Enquirer is seeking the video to shed light on exactly what happened that morning. There remain many unanswered questions."

The Cincinnati police investigation is ongoing. Immediately after the shooting, department officials gave a brief account of what happened. But plenty of questions remain. It's unclear how many shots were fired, who fired first, how Kim died and where a probation officer, who has never been named, plays into what happened.

Hummons has publicly said his son didn't lure anyone to the scene of the shooting.

Once the police investigation is completed, it will be forwarded to the the Hamilton County Prosecutor's Office, which under state law must review all officer-involved shootings.

Kim's letter marks the first time the community is hearing from her. "The experience brought my children and I an enormous amount (of) agonizing grief," she wrote. "However, we are moving forward toward a new normal as we get through each day."

Mayor John Cranley, who has seen the video, said it shows Sandmann's actions as "totally justified because Hummons had murdered Kim and was trying to murder a probation officer and Sandmann."