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Cincinnati Mayor Recommends Stun Guns
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By TERRY KINNEY

CINCINNATI - Cincinnati's mayor on Sunday urged the city to buy stun guns for its police force in response to the death of a man following a struggle with six officers a week ago.


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"I am looking for any avenue to avoid another struggle," Mayor Charlie Luken wrote in an e-mail to City Council members Sunday that asked them to find $1 million in the 2004 budget to pay for the non-lethal weapons.


"While it is unclear whether the incident would have changed if our officers had the latest technology in Tasers, I believe we must equip our police with the very best equipment," Luken wrote.


Nathaniel Jones, 41, died Nov. 30 after the scuffle in a restaurant parking lot. A police cruiser videotape showed the 350-pound man lunging at one officer before he was brought down and struck repeatedly with metal nightsticks.


The coroner ruled Jones' death a homicide but cautioned that the designation did not imply police used excessive force. The direct cause of death was the struggle, the autopsy showed, but Jones also had an enlarged heart and had drugs in his blood.


Jones' family and activist groups have said they will commission independent investigations, adding to probes by police, prosecutors and a citizens' panel. The Justice Department (news - web sites) also is gathering information.


About 500 people attended a memorial Saturday for Jones, who was black. His death has focused attention on the racial divide in this city torn by riots in April 2001 after a white police officer shot an unarmed black man who fled arrest.


A new model of the Taser was demonstrated to city officials about five months ago, Luken said at City Hall on Sunday.


"We have been waiting on a federal grant," Luken said. "Because of what happened a week ago, the city manager and I have concluded that we cannot wait."


Police Chief Thomas Streicher told council members on Wednesday that he stopped use of the older Tasers because he considered them unreliable. They required an officer to touch a person to activate the stun capability — not practical in a case where the suspect is lunging and swinging at officers, he said.


The newer models fire small, needlelike projectiles that can shock a person who is up to 25 feet away, Luken said.


The mayor said enough money to buy 1,000 of the new stun guns for the 1,050-officer department could come from not filling 34 middle management city vacancies that he expects within the coming year.