Man dies in custody after encounter with Cincinnati police
From the 'Wolf Blitzer Reports' staff in San Francisco
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A videotape shows police officers struggling with Nathaniel Jones.
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SAN FRANCISCO, California (CNN) -- Investigators are poring over a videotape that captured the altercation between a black man and six Cincinnati police officers, as they try to piece together the last moments of Nathaniel Jones' life.
It's the culmination of a chain of events that started with a 911 call just before dawn Sunday.
The 41-year-old Jones was found unconscious outside a fast food restaurant. An emergency crew responded to the call and reported a short time later that Jones was awake and becoming a nuisance.
Police were dispatched to the scene and there was a struggle.
Officers say the 350-pound Jones lunged at them, ignoring their orders and resisting efforts to handcuff him. The tape shows police repeatedly striking Jones with their batons.
Jones was finally subdued and taken by ambulance to a hospital where he died within minutes. The cause of death and of his violent behavior are still a mystery.
Dr. Calvert Smith, president of the Cincinnati Chapter of the NAACP, says, "We are not trying to say that this gentleman was innocent, I don't know what the circumstances were, but I have seen the film and the kind of beating that I observed would raise questions in anyone's mind."
Especially in Cincinnati, where the fatal shooting of a black suspect by white officers sparked three days of rioting in 2001. Similar incidents since then have raised tension between police and the black community.
The officers in this case are on administrative leave pending investigation.
Cincinnati Mayor Charlie Luken says their actions were appropriate. "They controlled the situation. And even after they start trying to get the man down and telling him what to do, you can see him continue to wail and struggle and grab the night stick. The police officers had a legitimate interest in making absolutely certain that they protected their own lives and their own safety," says Luken.
