WLWT -TV News Cincinnati
Two women who witnessed a confrontation between police and a suspect believe the officers did not provoke the man, who died a short time later.
However, the women said they think the officers used excessive force to subdue the man, WLWT Eyewitness News 5’s Sheree Paolello reported.
The events leading up to the death of Nathaniel Jones began just before 6 a.m. Sunday when rescue crews responded to a report of a man passed out on the grass outside a White Castle restaurant on Mitchell Avenue in Avondale.
Teri Gary lives across the street from the restaurant with her mother, Anna Gary. On Sunday morning, Teri Gary awoke to the sound of a man yelling outside her apartment, and she ran to the window to see what was happening.
“I see the guy whooping and hollering in White Castle’s parking lot,” she said.
Teri Gary, who said she was just being nosey at first, called for her mother to take a look. The police were not yet at the restaurant.
“He was still, at that point, yelling and shouting, and we didn’t know who he was talking to because there was no one else out there,” Anna Gary said.
When officers arrived, Teri Gary continued to watch from the window while Anna Gary went to the front porch for a better view. Teri Gary said the police tried repeatedly to calm Jones.
“They were just acting calmly, like ‘Sir. Sir. Calm down. Calm down,” she said. “What’s going on? What’s the problem?”
The Garys said the situation got out of control quickly as the officers moved in to make an arrest and Jones became enraged.
“I couldn’t believe my eyes,” Anna Gary said. “I’m like, ‘I don’t believe this is happening.’”
Paolello asked Anna Gary if the police provoked Jones, and she said no.
“Not in my mind,” she said.
Teri Gary thinks the officers used excessive force because “they were just beating on him with sticks,” she said. Her mother agreed.
“My problem is when they came in with the billy clubs and kept hitting him and hitting him,” Anna Gary said. “He seemed like he had settled down then.”
Both women agreed that the officers needed to defend themselves, but they questioned whether the officers’ self-defense went too far.
“I didn’t like it at all,” Anna Gary said. “I was just thinking, ‘What if it were my brother, or my son?’ It could have been my dad. I just wouldn’t want to see that again happen to anybody.”