From WLWT Eyewitness News 5 and ChannelCincinnati.com
A nearly 400-pound man who died Sunday after struggling with Cincinnati police officers suffered from several health problems, according to a coroner’s report.
Police were called to the White Castle restaurant on Mitchell Avenue in Avondale just before 6 a.m. after employees reported a disorderly person outside the restaurant, WLWT Eyewitness News 5 reported.
After Jones was restrained, officers realized something was wrong and called firefighters for help, police spokesman Lt. Kurt Byrd said.
Jones was taken to University Hospital, where he died a short time later, WLWT reported.
According to a statement from the Hamilton County coroner, Jones had a “markedly enlarged heart, consistent with hypertensive heart disease.”
The coroner said Jones “had linear bruises on his right calf, right thigh, right buttock and right flank, but there was no evidence of transmission of force to internal organs.”
Cincinnati police Lt. Col. Rick Janke said the amount of force used was consistent with protocol.
“Taking into consideration everything we’ve seen on the videotape, the officers did what they were trained to do,” he said. “It was a very violent assault by a large man on two of our officers.”
Pike and Osterman suffered cuts and scrapes during the confrontation.
Jones had been in trouble with the law before. He was arrested for cocaine possession in 1998. Instead of jail time, he was sentenced to a treatment program, but he violated his probation repeatedly, according to WLWT, and was sentenced in August 1998 to one year in prison.