13 MINUTES

Blaine Jorg is a man with really bad karma. Jorg was a policeman in Cincinnati, OH, and in November 2000, was in the wrong place at the wrong time in the wrong city. He was involved in the arrest of a suspect and unfortunately, the suspect died and Jorg found himself in the middle of a perfect storm. The suspect was Roger Owensby, Jr., who was a twenty-nine-year-old black male and this incident was one of many that led to the 2001 Cincinnati race riots. There was minimal to no evidence indicating Jorg did anything wrong, but in a political city such as Cincinnati, he was nonetheless incited. The lack of evidence at his ensuing trial led to a not-guilty verdict on one count, and a mistrial on the other, with the jury voting 10-2 for an acquittal. The perfect storm that Jorg found himself in was that the news media jumped on the story and made him into a public enemy, with community activists demanding action, without knowing all the facts. Part of the problem is that the media often does more to misinform and inflame passions, rather than bringing truth to the situation. Officer Jorg at that point was an expendable junior officer who could be sacrificed to appease an angry public. The police department and mayor did not stand behind him, even though the evidence was clearly in his favor. 13 Minutes is a tragedy at every angle. Jorg is a man who can't work in the career he loves, a suspect is dead, both families are devastated, and Cincinnati still has not a clue on how to solve its crime problems. 13 Minutes is a sad tale of lives destroyed, careers ruined, politics, infighting and finger pointing.