--- description: Cincinnati Mayor John Cranley broke down in tears apologizing to police after his office mistakenly honored a man who had killed an officer. title: Cincinnati Mayor Apologizes for 'Huge Mistake' Honoring a Cop Killer image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- * [U.S.](/section/us/) ## U.S. Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Cincinnati Mayor Apologizes for 'Huge Mistake' Honoring a Cop Killer  by [Tessa Berenson](/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close May 19, 2017 11:57 AM CUT  by [Tessa Berenson](/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close May 19, 2017 11:57 AM CUT Cincinnati Mayor John Cranley broke down in tears apologizing to police Thursday night after his office mistakenly honored a man who had killed an officer in 2015. “This was a huge mistake,” Cranley said, [_USA Today_ reports](https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2017/05/19/mayor-inadvertently-honors-police-officers-killer/331734001/ "undefined"). “It’s not done intentionally. It’s human error, but the buck stops with me. I love our police department. I would never do anything to hurt them.” [WCPO Cincinnati](http://www.wcpo.com/news/local-news/hamilton-county/cincinnati/huge-mistake-cranley-apologizes-to-police-after-his-office-accidentally-honors-officers-killer "undefined") reports that a new employee in Cranley’s office stamped a proclamation making June 1, 2017 “Tre Day” in honor of Trepierre Hummons, after a request by Hummons’ father. But on June 19, 2015, Trepierre Hummons shot Officer Sonny Kim and began firing at other officers; Hummons was shot, and he and Kim both died of their wounds. “This was completely and utterly my fault and I apologize to anyone it has hurt,” communications director Holly Smith, who granted the request, told WCPO. “Truly I do.” “Sonny Kim is a hero and as long as I am Mayor, Cincinnati will not honor in any way the man who murdered him in cold blood,” Cranley wrote in a letter to the president of the Fraternal Order of Police. “I cannot express how deeply sorry I am that this has happened.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4785699/cincinnati-mayor-mistake-cop-killer/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4785699/cincinnati-mayor-mistake-cop-killer/"},"headline":"Cincinnati Mayor Apologizes for 'Huge Mistake' Honoring a Cop Killer","datePublished":"2017-05-19T11:57:40.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T05:01:00.878Z","description":"“I cannot express how deeply sorry I am that this has happened\"","url":"https://time.com/4785699/cincinnati-mayor-mistake-cop-killer/","keywords":["Ohio","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Tessa Berenson","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/"}],"articleSection":"U.S.","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/us/","name":"U.S."}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4785699/cincinnati-mayor-mistake-cop-killer/","name":"Cincinnati Mayor Apologizes for 'Huge Mistake' Honoring a Cop Killer"}}]}] ```