Cincinnati Chief Says proper tactics used

[Resistance]

Apparently killing the suspect is considered "proper tactics" these days ...

Newsday Story

Cincinnati's police chief said yesterday that officers appeared to have followed proper procedure when attempting to subdue a man who later died, the latest incident in a city hit by riots two years ago after a series of black people were killed by police.

"It's obvious one of the officers was assaulted while he was trying to calm" Nathaniel Jones, 41, who died at a hospital shortly after being taken into custody Sunday outside a fast-food restaurant, Police Chief Thomas Streicher said on the "Today" show. He said that while the investigation was continuing, "I can't see anything that's outside procedure at this point."

The 350-pound man was struck and jabbed repeatedly with nightsticks in a confrontation with six officers that was captured by a video camera mounted on a police car.

[theshadow]

1. Okay fine....

now tell us how you would have handled it.

[Stupdworld]

2. I think

the major contributing factor was the fact that he was morbidly obese and a regular drug user. nobody in that condition can deal with that kind of physical trauma. Problem is, with someone that big and apparently strong, who is coked out beyond belief, its going to take a small army to bring him down. The fact that all the bruises were superficial and below the waist, mostly (if not all) on strong muscle like the buttocks and thigh and not soft tissues or organs, show that the cops did what they had to do. God they told him like 20 times to put his hands behind his back or some such.

I think that in the end, the police didn't kill him. It was a contributing factor alongside his other physical ailments. If maybe he would have put down a whitecastle or two, and laid off the drugs, he might be able to survive fighting the cops. that is until you piss them off and they clock you cross your fool head.

[DrWeird]

3. He got what he had coming to him.

That's what you get for being black and doing drugs in this country.

Apparently.

[theshadow]

4. So if he had been white...

the cops would have "made nice"? Or if the cops were black this wouldn't have happened (or all police officers naturally bestial in your eyes?). Oh please. Is it somehow incomprehensible that the person who does the attacking assumes the responsibility for what happens?

[DrWeird]

6. I'd bet money, yes.

Police brutality is often race related. Especially in Cincinatti apparently.

So what you're saying is, because the cops attacked the man and beat him to death, they should assume responsibility for it? I agee.

[westman]

9. If we were really concerned about violence in the black community,

we would be much more focussed on black-on-black crime. Compared to the violent crimes committed within the community, the occasional racist action by the police (not this incident, BTW) pales in comparison.

[westman]

8. No, but that's what can happen to you

if you are as large as two moderately-sized interior linemen, stoned on at least three different drugs, have cardiac problems, and fail to acquiesce after attacking a cop.

It's really pretty clear. Stop trying to make this a race issue.

[sam7]

12. Who here among us, white, black or purple

thinks that if they're publicly drunk and take a swing at a cop they're NOT going to get their ass kicked. The guy was fat, doped up and had a bad heart. Considering his self destructive behavior it's amazing that he lived as long as he did. It was an accident. End of story.

[LiberalFighter]

5. So... can we use the same tactics on the police chief??????

Please!!!!!!!!!!!!

[theshadow]

7. Attacked? Beaten?

The coroner says the struggle (HIS word) combined with the victim's cocaine, PCP and heart disease, caused the death. The physical blows from the batons were not a factor (he had bruises on his legs but no internal injuries). So if you're going to indict the officers for killing him by the mere act of struggling, what should they have done?

--> Sorry, this was supposed to reply to the good Dr.'s post.

[sam7]

13. Yes,

if he's publicly drunk and fights with the arresting officers.

[Voltaire99]

10. The fire next time

Cincinnati is not the place where you want to be trying more apartheid policing...

[Don_G]

11. The Suspect Committed Suicide

By using crack and PCP in combination with his diet. He pulled the trigger by fighting and the police were the weapon in this instance.

A similar event happened in my city not too long ago with similar drugs about 100 miles away from Cincinnatti and the police were exonerated.

[FredScuttle]

14. funny how the coroner disagrees

you know the coroner, right? The medical professional who actually examined the body? He classified it as a homicide. Seeing as how he could only classify it one of four ways:

1) Natural causes
2) Accidental death
3) Suicide
4) Homicide

he chose #4 and took great care to indicate that his was not necessarily an indictment of the officers. However, as my trusty M-W dictionary indicates:

Main Entry: ho·mi·cide
Function: noun
1 : a person who kills another
2 : a killing of one human being by another

Now, was there someone else in the vicinity while the officers were assaulting Nathaniel Jones? Perhaps a 2nd gunman in the Grassy Knoll?