Monday, December 1, 2003 Posted: 5:47 PM EST (2247 GMT)
http://www.cnn.com/2003/US/Midwest/1...in.custody.ap/
A videotape shows police officers struggling with Nathaniel Jones.
CINCINNATI, Ohio (AP) -- A 350-pound black man died after being struck repeatedly by police wielding metal nightsticks, and the mayor said Monday a videotape showed that the officers were defending themselves.
The cause of death was under investigation.
Black activists say the death Sunday of Nathaniel Jones, 41, was another example of brutality involving Cincinnati police.
The fatal shooting of an unarmed 19-year-old black man by a white police officer in April 2001 prompted four days of rioting in the city.
The disturbances resulted in dozens of injuries, more than 800 arrests and widespread property damage.
"How many of our people have to die before the city decides to do something about it?" said Nathaniel Livingston Jr. of the Coalition for a Just Cincinnati.
The Rev. Daymond Lynch, a leader of the Black United Front, said he was reserving judgment until more was known about the case.
But, Lynch said, "if police officers act improperly, we expect them to be held accountable."
The officers who were at the scene -- five whites and one black -- were placed on administrative leave, which is policy while investigators examine any police encounter that results in a death.
The confrontation was videotaped by a camera on a police cruiser. After seeing the video, Mayor Charlie Luken rejected activists' demand that he force police Chief Thomas Streicher Jr. to resign.
"What I saw was a ... man violently attacking a police officer in a manner that put the lives of police officers at risk," Luken said.
"While the investigations will continue, there is nothing on those tapes to suggest that the police did anything wrong."
Luken said he agreed with the initial police assessment that the officers who struggled with Jones defended themselves as they were trained to do when attacked.
An employee at a White Castle fast-food restaurant called 911 early Sunday to report that a man had passed out on the grass outside. Emergency personnel arrived and reported that the man was awake and "becoming a nuisance," according to police radio transmissions.
The first two officers to arrive, Baron Osterman and James Pike, were shown on the video striking Jones after he was warned to stay back.
Jones then lunged at one of the two white officers and knocked him down. As they struggled to handcuff him, the officers kept yelling, "Put your hands behind your back."
They called for an ambulance when Jones appeared to be in distress. He died within minutes of arriving at University Hospital, Assistant Chief Richard Janke said. The reason for Jones' behavior was not known, Janke said.
The cause of Jones' death was under investigation.
The treatment of the officers involved in the incident by department leaders upset Roger Webster, president of the Fraternal Order of Police in Cincinnati.
"The officers were treated as criminals," he told a reporter. "They were read their rights. In that video, what did these officers do wrong?"
Black activist groups staged an economic boycott of Cincinnati after the 2001 shooting of Timothy Thomas, who was wanted on prior charges of fleeing police when he ran from officers.
Officer Stephen Roach shot him in a dark alley and was later cleared at trial of criminal charges.
Civil rights leaders blamed what they called years of abuse by the police department for the anger in the black community. Thomas was the 15th black suspect killed by police since 1995.
A federal investigation of that shooting, requested by the city, resulted in Cincinnati's April 2002 agreement to tighten use of force policies and to improve handling of citizen complaints against the police.
The agreement, signed by U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft, specifies when and how police officers should use force, when and how they can engage in foot pursuits, and how they deal with those who are mentally ill.
Last February, a white officer chased and fatally shot a black man who was spotted running from a store that had been broken into, police said.
The police, Hamilton County prosecutor and the Citizen Complaint Authority review panel concluded that the shooting was justified because the suspect was beating the officer with his nightstick.
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What do you all think?? Has anyone seen the video?? This is going to get real ugly real fast
Rodney King 2??
) cops could not detain him. Had the guy just stayed down...I would say flat out that the cops were wrong...but he kept getting up...and he kept getting up! 
Hybrid Mode
