Police who beat man ‘followed procedure’
The chief said it was obvious one of the officers was assaulted before the taped beating began.
Nathaniel Jones, 41, died at a hospital shortly after being taken into custody on Sunday outside a fast-food restaurant. The 350lb man was struck repeatedly with nightsticks in a confrontation captured by a video camera mounted on a police car.
While he stressed that the investigation was incomplete he believed there was enough on the tape to have a preliminary judgment about what occurred.
"It's obvious one of the officers was assaulted while he was trying to calm down Mr Jones. I can't see anything that's outside this procedure at this point," he said.
The Citizen Complaint Authority, a watchdog panel born from the riots that followed the police shooting of an unarmed black man in 2001, is looking into the death.
"We turn to you for a full and fair and thorough investigation," Mayor Charlie Luken told members on Monday night. The US Justice Department is also studying the case.
The cause of Jones's death was under investigation. Preliminary autopsy results showed he had an enlarged heart, and his blood contained cocaine and PCP, or 'angel dust', both of which can cause erratic behaviour, Hamilton county coroner Carl Parrott said.
Jones's death raised new allegations of police brutality, just as the city was starting to recover from the effects of the April, 2001 riots and the boycott that followed.
Justice Department spokesman Jorge Martinez said information was being gathered to determine if federal action was warranted.
Emergency personnel were sent to the restaurant early on Sunday after a report of a man passed out on the grass. They told a dispatcher the man was "becoming a nuisance".
The first two officers to arrive, Baron Osterman and James Pike, were shown on the videotape striking Jones after he ignored orders, took a swing at an officer and put his arm around an officer's neck.
The officers knocked Jones to the ground and fell on him, and jabbed or struck him with nightsticks at least a dozen times.
Police procedure is to avoid hitting a suspect on the head. They kept yelling "put your hands behind your back", as they struggled to handcuff him.
Additional police officers arrived. They rolled Jones onto his back and one officer was heard saying: "He's still got a pulse. I don't see him breathing."
Jones died within minutes after an ambulance took him to a hospital.
All six officers who went to the scene five whites and one black were placed on administrative leave, which is standard procedure.
The 2001 riots stemmed from the shooting of Timothy Thomas, 19, who was wanted on several misdemeanour charges and who fled when police tried to arrest him.
Officer Stephen Roach shot Mr Thomas in a dark alley but he was later cleared at trial of criminal charges.
