Dennis E. “Denny” Bennington 

 

 

• Cincinnati Police Officer
• “Excellent Police Officer,” husband, and father
  Died with valor in a shootout with an armed robber

 

Denny was born June 18, 1951. He joined the Cincinnati Police Division on July 20, 1969 as a Police Cadet. While attending the University of Cincinnati and earning an associate degree in Police Science, Cadet Bennington worked at Central Station (the city’s jail in City Hall) and District 6 (3295 Erie Avenue). He was also an avid duck hunter and once featured in the Cincinnati Enquirer.

On February 25, 1973, he was promoted to Patrolman, issued Badge 82, and assigned to District 6. A year later, he was rotated to District 7 (813 Beecher Street) and, still later, transferred to District 4 (4150 Reading Road).

By March 1979, Officer Bennington had served 9½ years and received six letters of appreciation and/or commendation, including three official commendations from the police chief or bureau commander. His commander, in one of Officer Bennington’s personnel documents, described him as “an excellent all-around police officer who needs no supervision.” 

His home life was iconic as well. He spent most of his free time with his children and his family was again featured in The Cincinnati Enquirer during 1977 as a family of campers. Officer Benning could often be found playing ball in the street with his children and the other children in the neighborhood, in addition to hunting and fishing.

The Cincinnati Police Division traditionally deployed a Robbery Task Force during the Christmas Holidays and police commanders detailed their best officers to it. During 1978, Officer Bennington was named to the Task Force and partnered with Officer Robert Seiffert. In December 1978, an extremely violent Gregory Daniels committed another in a series of street robberies and the case was assigned to Officers Bennington and Seiffert.

They solved the case as far as identifying the robber, but Daniels eluded capture for months. Officer Bennington was familiar with Daniels, but Officer Seiffert only knew him by his photo. So, when Officer Seiffert thought he saw him driving a car in the opposite direction three months later, he called Officer Bennington to assist in the felony stop on Oak Street near Reading Road. Officer Bennington pulled up across the street, got out of his car and stepped toward Daniels’ car. Officer Seiffert approached from the rear.

Daniels got out of his car with a .38 caliber revolver and shot Officer Bennington in the center of his chest, knocking him down and tearing away the top of his heart. Daniels also shot Officer Seiffert, striking him in the head and killing him.

Though suffering an unrecoverable wound and his heart pumping all of his blood out of the circulatory system, Officer Bennington got off the ground and, while drawing his revolver, was shot again in his left shoulder. With two painful wounds and a disabled shoulder, with one hand, he returned five rounds to the murderer’s head. He then succumbed to his own wounds.

If you want to know more of Officer Bennington’s life, death, and survivors, please see his Line of Duty Death page.

 

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