Correspondents describe the charges as relatively minor.
Officer Roach, if convicted on both counts, faces a maximum of nine months in jail. Thomas was the fifteenth black crime suspect to be killed by the mainly white Cincinnati police since 1995. The killing was followed by several days of rioting and looting, and the imposition of a night-time curfew. Some community leaders had expressed concern that anything less than a serious murder charge against the officer could spark renewed unrest. He added that discrepancies in Officer Roach's two statements to investigators about the shooting led to the obstruction charge.