What if the Teen were White: Injustice from Ohio to Raleigh

Black Birdseye View
Jun 3
5 min read

Hello Faithful Reader,

I hope this month’s edition of The Black Birdseye View finds you well. I am well.

It’s a question that’s lingered with me lately…. simple, but unsettling: What if the teen were white? That thought has shaped my reflections this month as I look at two stories - one from Ohio, the other from right here in Raleigh. Both reveal the same painful truth: when justice is unequal, grief becomes heavier, and accountability remains elusive for families like mine.

A Grieving Father, Criminalized

On May 2, 2025, a tragedy unfolded in Cincinnati, Ohio. Rodney L. Hinton was arrested after allegedly running over and killing a retired sheriff's deputy who directed traffic near a local university. But the day before, police shot and killed Rodney's teenage son, Ryan Hinton, during a chase. Like many cases involving officers who go unchecked after killing Black people, officers claimed the teen had a weapon and posed a threat. His family claimed heartbreak.

Within hours, Rodney, the grieving father, became the focus of the legal system. Prosecutors painted his actions as deliberate. The courtroom was packed with outraged police. Yet no one asked: What happens to a parent who watches police kill their child and hears officials say nothing will be done?

From News to Reality

What I'm about to share with you is not just a hypothetical situation or something you read about in the news. I have lived through a version of it myself. What happened to Rodney Hinton's family in many ways mirror what happened to mine. This experience of being failed by the justice system is not just a story I am telling. It is my lived reality, and it is also the reality of many others in our community who the same kind of injustice has harmed.

When Brown Sugar Replaced Truth

In 2021 in Raleigh, North Carolina, my son was swept up in a scandal where more than a dozen Black and Brown men were falsely arrested and accused of trafficking heroin. The so-called drugs? Turned out to be brown sugar, supplied by a confidential informant, Dennis Leon Williams Jr., a man Raleigh police had already arrested years earlier for distributing fake narcotics.

Officers Omar Abdullah and David Nance brought Williams onto the Vice Squad payroll despite his prior history. They named him 'Aspirin' and allowed him to pose as a legitimate informant. That decision, reckless at best and criminal at worst, allowed officers to cage more than 15 innocent men without evidence, without proper vetting, and with no regard for their lives. My son was one of them.

Justice for Some, Silence for Others

He was caged like a slave and stripped of his dignity. To add insult to injury, he was labeled a drug dealer and forced into a legal nightmare. The truth? There was no evidence. No drugs surfaced. The officers never conducted any field tests. The surveillance footage, limited as it was, failed to meet even basic standards of credibility. At one point, the informant even blocked the camera with his hand. Despite this, officers still arrested the men and filed charges. And lives, like my son's, turned upside down. Others caught in the same dragnet lost their livelihoods, missed time with newborns and dying loved ones, and carried the heavy burden of public shame for crimes they didn't commit. As the truth began to unravel and the lies became impossible to ignore, the City of Raleigh chose not to issue a statement or take meaningful responsibility. Instead, city officials quietly paid two million dollars in one lawsuit and another three hundred fifty thousand in a second, using public money to cover the damage while allowing those truly responsible to avoid consequences. But justice? Justice never truly arrived.

Of the eight officers in the legal complaint, only one faced actual consequence. Omar Abdullah, the only Black officer among them, lost his job and accepted a conviction for obstruction of justice. The court sentenced him to thirty-eight days in jail and two years of probation. The remaining seven officers, all white and equally involved in the misconduct faced nothing. No one filed charges against them. The department issued no internal discipline. These officers still serve on the force today.

Hit them where it Hurts

This CALL FOR ACTION must involve more than words, protesting, and panel discussions. We must collectively demand real action. We must demand a complete and thorough review of all cases involving the eight officers in the lawsuit and any associated Confidential Informants:

Specifically, we must demand:

A transparent and independent investigation into how Raleigh Police used confidential informants, managed drug enforcement operations and handled money allocated to informants. Specifically, how money is provided, distributed, and managed as it relates to “fighting the war on drugs.”
Legal accountability for EVERY officer named in the dismissed lawsuit, regardless of their position or background
Public statements from the District Attorney's office and Raleigh city officials that explain what went wrong and what steps they plan to take to stop it from happening again and what they are doing about the individuals who could still be incarcerated behind trumped up charges stemming from RPD

The people who faced false accusations do not exist as statistics. They represent real individuals who serve as fathers, sons, brothers, and neighbors. One of them includes my son. I will not stop speaking out until every person responsible takes full accountability for the harm they caused.

The Fight Ahead

We cannot call for justice in Ohio for Ryan Hinton while we ignore the people who remain incarcerated here at home. Justice should never operate as a selective principle. It must apply to everyone without exception. Unchecked injustice always finds a way to grow. Justice requires attention, effort, and collective voices that refuse to stay quiet. The time for silence, private meetings, and hollow apologies has passed. Now stands as the moment to act.

Take Action If You Spent Time Incarcerated in Wake County, North Carolina: If you or someone close to you has ever faced arrest or incarceration in Wake County, now is the time to review your case carefully.

Step One: Look at all the paperwork associated with your arrest

Look closely through your arrest records and court documents. Pay special attention to the officers involved. These names appeared in a lawsuit connected to false heroin trafficking charges:

Lieutenant Jennings Bunch
Sergeant William Rolfe
Officer Rishar Pierre Monroe
Officer Julien David Rattelade
Officer Meghan Caroline Gay
Officer David Chadwick Nance
Officer Jason Gwinn
Omar Abdullah was fired and convicted of obstruction of justice

If you find any of these names in your paperwork, your case may have involved misconduct. That means you may qualify for legal relief or compensation.

Step Two: Speak with a Lawyer

Contact a knowledgeable criminal defense attorney and explain your situation. Show the attorney's or the court's documentation and request that the attorney or the court look into your case for wrongdoing. If the attorney finds misconduct, your attorney should do the following:

Ask the court to review or overturn your charges
File a request to clear your criminal record
Seek compensation by filing a civil lawsuit for the harm you experienced

Step Three: Demand Accountability

Use legal action as a tool to create meaningful changes. The City of Raleigh already paid millions in settlements to people who faced wrongful arrests. That result only happened because someone stood up and took action. You hold the right to pursue justice. You hold the right to restore your name. You hold the right to compensation for what someone unlawfully took from you. This approach shows how we begin holding the city and its officers fully accountable.

Accountability does not simply exist to punish wrongdoing. It sets the standard and sends a clear message that no one stands above the law, not even those who wear the badge.

Until Next time