Larry Henderson

Larry Ray Henderson Jr. was a Hamilton County, Ohio sheriff's deputy who spent more than three decades protecting the Cincinnati area before he was killed in the line of duty on May 2, 2025. He had retired from full time service just months earlier, in December 2024, after 33 years with the Hamilton County Sheriff's Office, but continued working as a special deputy. On the day he died he was directing traffic near Burnet Woods at Martin Luther King Drive for the University of Cincinnati's spring graduation ceremony when a car struck him.

Over his career Henderson worked as a corrections officer, patrol deputy, bomb technician, dive team member, DARE and academy instructor, member of the Honor Guard, and he assisted the FBI's Cincinnati office through its Joint Terrorism Task Force. He was a United States Marine Corps veteran before joining the sheriff's office in 1991. Colleagues and the public who knew him away from the badge remembered him as a devoted family man who also volunteered for nearly 20 years working security at University of Cincinnati football games and worked part time at Mercy Health Anderson Hospital. He was a husband, father of five, grandfather and foster parent, and friends recalled his love of fishing and rescuing pit bulls.

Henderson's death came one day after Cincinnati police fatally shot 18 year old Ryan Hinton following an alleged stolen vehicle incident. Rodney Hinton Jr., Ryan's father, was shown body camera video of his son's death by police. Prosecutors said that hours later Hinton drove his car directly at Henderson as the deputy directed graduation traffic, striking and killing him. Hinton's defense argued he had instead been aiming for a nearby utility pole in an attempt to end his own life, and that he was legally insane at the time due to the trauma of watching his son die. On October 23, 2026, after a ten day trial and more than two days of deliberation, a Hamilton County jury rejected the insanity defense and found Hinton guilty of murder, felonious assault and reckless homicide, though not the most serious aggravated murder charge. He was taken into custody immediately and is scheduled to be sentenced on November 16, 2026.

Henderson's death drew an outpouring of grief across the Cincinnati area. Hundreds of mourners, including law enforcement officers from across the region, attended his visitation and funeral in May 2025, with services held at the Cintas Center at Xavier University and burial at Spring Grove Cemetery. Ohio lawmakers later introduced the 'Larry Henderson Act' to increase penalties for people who harm law enforcement officers, and the Ohio House passed a bill to designate a stretch of highway the Deputy Larry Henderson Memorial Highway in his honor. He is remembered by colleagues as a model officer and a steady, generous presence both on and off duty.