A lethal combination of obesity, heart disease, drug use and a physical struggle caused the death of a man shortly after a struggle with Cincinnati police officers, the Hamilton County, Ohio Coroner reported Wednesday.
Nathaniel Jones, 41, died Sunday at a hospital shortly after being taken into custody. Hamilton County Coroner Carl Parrott also said Jones took cocaine less than three hours before his death and PCP less than five hours before his death.
The incident has renewed accusations of police brutality against blacks in a city that was rocked by riots in 2001. However, this incident was taped by one of the patrol car’s in-car video systems, which plainly shows that the officers acted within use-of-force regulations while subduing the suspect. In addition, the coroner’s report, which found the suspect’s death was not casued by inappropriate behavior or the use of excessive force by police, backs up police and reinforces the claim that they handled the situation correctly.
Top officials in Cincinnati are expanding a campaign to talk openly about the videotaped beating and defend the police actions, in an effort to defuse the kinds of racial tensions that gripped the city in 2001 after another man was shot and killed by the police.
“We learned from what happened here almost three years ago, and we’ve gone through a culture change in Cincinnati,” Mayor Charlie Luken told the New York Times. Luken, the police chief, Thomas Streicher, and others have gone on national television and radio and freely given interviews to say that they believe their police acted correctly during the incident.
“We are trying to be open about it as much as we can, and in doing that, encouraging a dialogue, so we can learn from what’s happened, and then move on,” the mayor said.
The official cause of death listed on Jones’ death certificate is homicide. Ruling the death a homicide “should not be interpreted as implying inappropriate behavior or the use of excessive force by police,” Parrott said. Homicide rulings are issued when someone dies at the hands of another person.
Jones’s family said he was loving man who never showed signs of violence. “They talk about Skip like he was an animal,” said Bessie Jones, his grandmother. “He wasn’t. Skipper was just a good old, fat jolly fella. He wasn’t violent.”
The police video tape plainly shows Jones attacking and swinging at two officers as they slowly approached him.
Source: AP; The Nork Times; WLWT TV News
Sign up to receive Police1 Critical Alerts -- like this one -- delivered to your e-mail box or wireless device.