Man's Death in Fight With Cincinnati Cops Probed

[TheeBadOne]

Cincinnati paramedic chief faces disciplinary hearing

Cincinnati-The leader of a Cincinnati Fire Department paramedics' crew faces a disciplinary hearing for allowing his medical team to leave a White Castle parking lot last Sunday when Nathaniel Jones died in a violent struggle with six police officers.

Fire Chief Robert Wright said the hearing will focus on whether departmental rules for emergency medical care of combative patients were violated when the EMTs drove off in Engine 38, which had arrived at the predawn scene before police responded.

No date has been set for the hearing for Greg Adams, the firefighter who heads the paramedics crew. He could not be reached yesterday.

The paramedics - who would have been able to offer on-the-spot emergency care - were gone by the time the unarmed black man was handcuffed after a videotaped fight. Jones did not get CPR from the EMTs until they were called back by police at 6:05 a.m., about four minutes after the videotaped confrontation started.

So far, city officials have not been able to explain why the paramedics left the White Castle.

Meanwhile, the Baptist Ministers Conference of Greater Cincinnati said it was organizing a Sunday afternoon civil-rights demonstration that would start outside Cincinnati's City Hall. The group, comprised mainly of black pastors, said they planned to lead a march across downtown to the courthouse.

The paramedics' role in the Jones' beating has been slow in coming to light. Close inspection of the video recorded from a camera mounted in a police cruiser at the restaurant reveals an officer began to search for the paramedics after another is heard saying about Jones, "I don't see him breathing."

The videotape from the cruiser-mounted camera also catches an officer saying, "Where did they go?" Another says "They bailed."

By that time, Jones, 41, had been struck and jabbed repeatedly on the back and legs by officers wielding aluminum nightsticks.

The violent fray erupted suddenly when Jones charged into an officer and bowled him over saying, "My momma taught me this."

Although six separate investigations are now under way - including a preliminary inquiry by the U.S. Justice Department - no one yet can explain why Jones charged.

An autopsy by Hamilton County officials says Jones was high on PCP and cocaine, which can sometimes trigger paranoia and episodes of violent behavior. His family is seeking a private autopsy and said at a news conference that he was not a violent person.

An autopsy of Jones, who weighed 342 pounds, shows he used cocaine three hours before his death and died of an irregular heartbeat caused by his struggle with police.

Hamilton County Coroner Dr. Carl Parrot Jr., told a news conference Wednesday, "Absent the struggle, Mr. Jones presumably would have gone on his intoxicated way."

A transcript of the 9-1-1 call shows a city dispatcher sent paramedics to the scene after a call at 5:45 a.m. from the White Castle manager on duty. The manager thought Jones was sick and phoned 9-1-1 to get him help.

The transcript shows the paramedics radioed back that Jones was not passed out. "He's becoming a nuisance to people here," an emergency medical technician radioed in. A dispatcher then sent the police, saying the firemen had encountered a disorderly subject.

When the police arrived, radio transmission records show they believed Jones was mentally deranged and called for a mental health unit.

Since 1995, the Fire Department has operated under a policy recognizing that combative patients can suffer sudden deaths while being restrained. The policy says patients who are disoriented, delirious or deranged are best treated by a paramedics unit because they are often subject to a condition called "excitable delirium."

If police have to restrain the patient, he should be flipped onto his back immediately by the paramedics team after control is gained. The treatment policy says that agitated patients can suffer sudden death because their bodies need oxygen.

http://www.cleveland.com/news/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/news/1070620300245100.xml
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[mrtgbnkr]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=514&e=5&u=/ap/20031207/ap_on_re_us/died_in_custody_7

Cincinnati Mayor Recommends Stun Guns

CINCINNATI - Cincinnati's mayor on Sunday urged the city to buy stun guns for its police force in response to the death of a man following a struggle with six officers a week ago.

I am looking for any avenue to avoid another struggle," Mayor Charlie Luken wrote in an e-mail to City Council members Sunday that asked them to find $1 million in the 2004 budget to pay for the non-lethal weapons.


"While it is unclear whether the incident would have changed if our officers had the latest technology in Tasers, I believe we must equip our police with the very best equipment," Luken wrote.


Nathaniel Jones, 41, died Nov. 30 after the scuffle in a restaurant parking lot. A police cruiser videotape showed the 350-pound man lunging at one officer before he was brought down and struck repeatedly with metal nightsticks.


The coroner ruled Jones' death a homicide but cautioned that the designation did not imply police used excessive force. The direct cause of death was the struggle, the autopsy showed, but Jones also had an enlarged heart and had drugs in his blood.


Jones' family and activist groups have said they will commission independent investigations, adding to probes by police, prosecutors and a citizens' panel. The Justice Department (news - web sites) also is gathering information.


About 500 people attended a memorial Saturday for Jones, who was black. His death has focused attention on the racial divide in this city torn by riots in April 2001 after a white police officer shot an unarmed black man who fled arrest.

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Nice of the Mayor to make a tactical/equipment suggestion to the police. I guess he knows what it takes to get a suspect on a drug bender under control better than the police.

 

[fmjcafe]

I`m just guessing here but I`d say zapping this particular perp with a taser would have had the same result.

 

[TheeBadOne]

I`m just guessing here but I`d say zapping this particular perp with a taser would have had the same result.

I'd have to agree that's very likely. The guy would have continued to struggle (exert himself) no matter what, even in cuffs, and as the medical exam said, that's what caused him to expire.

 

[Coronach]

Looking at that video, I'm not even sure if they would have had a chance to employ it. It went from "hey how you doin'" to "BACK UP" to a rodeo kinda fast.

If they had juiced him prior to the fight being on, can you imagine the outcry? Trying to juice him during the fight is always dicey. Mustn't fry your partner.

I think what people are looking for is an alternative to what happened. "Well, X has got to be better than this! You should have done X!" The mayor says as much in his email. In this instance, though, Nathaniel Jones went right past that point in the Use of Force Continuum and landed himself solidly in impact weapon territory.

Won't change a thing.

Mike

 

[WYO]

Yep.

 

[Black92LX]

I still believe that the police need to make better use of less lethal approaches.

last time i checked a cr-24 is not a lethal weapon. it wasn't the blows from the cr-24 that killed him. it was an obese man with pre-existing heart problems who just ate white castles and got into the most physically activity ever exerted in his entire life.

 

[carpettbaggerr]

Actually, the PR-24 can be a lethal weapon. Hit someone with it and you will be charged with Assault With a Deadly Weapon. And if you hit someone in the head with one, they will get dead fairly quickly.

 

[Coronach]

OK, we addressed this already, but...

Yeah, a PR-24 is /potentially/ a lethal weapon. The ASP/Monadnock target areas have a RED category for a reason...intentionally strike here only in a life or death struggle.

However-

A properly employed PR-24 (as these cops were filmed using them) is considered an intermediate weapon.

And the autopsy results revealed that he did not die from blunt trauma from the PR-24s, but rather as a result of the struggle causing his already-weak (and drugged up) heart to give up the ghost.

Mike

 

[Black92LX]

Hit someone with it and you will be charged with Assault With a Deadly Weapon. And if you hit someone in the head with one, they will get dead fairly quickly.

as a civilian yes. but in the law enforcement realm no, because it is only lethal if blows to the head are given. which is not taught in training of officers.

 

[Roadkill Coyote]

About the Taser solution

First, this incident was precisely the type of situation that the Taser is designed for. Some agencies now have individual officers carrying the Taser on their persons, to give them an option in just such a fast developing confrontation. If Cinncinati deploys the Taser at an individual officer level, that's a great idea. But the principal value of the Taser is not to make the fight stress free for the suspect. The Taser serves to reduce, not eliminate, the risk of injury by shortening the fight, and knocking the suspect down. Someone that's hit with the Taser is still under plenty of stress, and its the stress of the struggle that appears to have resulted in the fatality. Even though the Taser might have shortened the confrontation, Mr. Jones may still have died.

I'm a Taser enthusiast, an instructor, carry one, and use it. That said, the increasing trend by cities confronted with controversial use of force issues, places like Cinncinati and Denver, to buy the Taser as a crutch intended to support fractured relationships with the community alarms me. It cannot work. I really hate to see a good tool get used for, and associated with, treating the symptom.

 

[Obiwan]

My local cops tased a suspect a couple weeks ago...he wasn't impressed or inconvenienced

 

[Roadkill Coyote]

The Taser isn't a magic bullet, it doesn't work every time. Its just a good tool, and when used properly, it works most of the time. We're seeing more failures in the news here in Colorado because the number of uses is skyrocketing, and the vast majority of those uses don't make the news because it works. There's one agency up in the northern part of the Denver metro that has used the Taser over a hundred and fifty times so far this year. Thats just one agency. I would be shocked if there weren't failures making the news.

 

[Sean Smith]

I'm sure electrocuting a stoned guy with a heart condition would definitely have produced a better outcome, survival-wise, than poking him with some sticks.

Another thought: anyone who listens to "The Russ Martin Show" in the D/FW area has heard him use tasers on people for fun during some of his game-show type skits.

 

[Roadkill Coyote]

The point is, Cinncinati is trying to solve a political problem with technology. Which won't work. They could issue magic wands and there would still be allegations of excessive force, because the real issue is not the type of force, its the discretion to use force itself that is at issue. Its about power, and resentment.

As to the effectiveness for the Taser, this is getting off topic. If you want to start a thread over in non-firearm weapons, I'll be glad to explain why they work, and why what you were listening to on the radio is misleading, if not irrelevant.

 

[Sean Smith]

Um, I realize that they were probably joking on a humorous radio show.

 

[Sportcat]

It has begun...

http://www.naacp.org/news/releases/CincinnatiPolice120203.shtml

NAACP Welcomes Federal Probe Of Cincinnati Police
Beating of an unarmed man called barbaric, outside of good police procedures


Kweisi Mfume, president and CEO, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), today said the U.S. Justice Department should investigate the possible civil rights violation of a Cincinnati black man who died soon after being beaten by city police.

"The sight of police officers repeatedly beating Nathaniel Jones with metal night sticks is sickening and appears well outside of the norm for subduing an unarmed suspect," said Mfume. "Attorney General John Ashcroft should direct the Justice Department to not only investigate the possible violation of civil rights laws, but to also consider whether federal funds should be cutoff from the Cincinnati Police Department until the police are trained to handle this kind of situation without using excessive force."

Mfume said: "The police department would do well to emulate the practices by other departments by establishing and developing relationships with communities before those type of incidents occur."

Police videotape showed police officers jabbing Nathaniel Jones at least a dozen times after he had fallen on the ground and refused an order to place his hands behind his back. Jones died at a hospital shortly after he was taken into custody. A final autopsy report has not been issued.

This latest violent Cincinnati police episode began early Sunday morning when paramedics were called to a fast food restaurant parking lot where a man was unconscious on the parking lot. When the man reportedly became unruly, the police were called.

"No one wants to second guess the police, but it's hard not to be sickened at the sight of the police beating this unarmed man," said Mfume. "Why didn't they use a stun gun or other nonviolent means to subdue him? No one is suggesting that Jones is innocent, but neither are the arresting officers in this instance."

Jones' death follows a pattern of alleged police brutality in Cincinnati. There were riots in 2001 after the police shooting death of 19-year-old Timothy Thomas, who was wanted on misdemeanor charges, was shot after he fled police into a dark alley.

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is the nation's oldest and largest civil rights organization. Its half-million adult and youth members throughout the United States and the world are the premier advocates for civil rights in their communities and monitor equal opportunity in the public and private sectors.



###

Contact: NAACP Office of Communications 410.580-5125

 

[greyhound]

It has begun

Yup.

Why, oh, why do they have to play the race card?

As far as using excessive force against a PERSON, hey maybe they should look at it. But as soon as I saw the tape; the 5 of 6 white officers and the black suspect, I knew exactly where this was going.

I said it before, this has nothing to do with Nathaniel Jones, its the result of distrust between the CPD and African American residents.

Of course, then the NAACP and the other fan-flamers have to step in and any chance of a logical investigation go out the window...:banghead:

 

[TheeBadOne]

A Trainers veiwpoint

POLICE, THE MEDIA, AND THE MISCONCEPTION OF BRUTALITY

There has been a great deal of media coverage over the incident in Cincinnati, during which Kirkland Smith, 44, died in police custody. Many people are questioning how the police officers handled the situation and many citizens are once again making accusations of police brutality and racism.

The incident unfolded last week when officers responded to several calls about a man staggering down a city street and trying to break into a house and a car. Officers found Smith on a porch. A struggled ensued when they tried to handcuff him. Yesterday the death was ruled as a 'homicide' by the coroner.

Days before this incident, America saw video footage of a similar incident during which 41-year-old Nathaniel Jones died in custody of Cincinnati police following a struggle in a fast-food parking lot. Jones plunged at an officer and a struggle ensued. The media reported that officers used chemical spray and 'nightsticks' on him, and the death was ruled a homicide. Jones, who weighed 342 pounds, had an enlarged heart and was intoxicated on cocaine and PCP. He died from the stressful effects of the "beating", according to the coroner's report. Shortly after the ruling citizen groups began protesting.

"There are always people so quick to 'racialize" these incidents', says Calibre Press Lead Seminar Instructor Dave Smith (a.k.a. Buck Savage). "Everybody has that 'split-second' emotional response to an officer making a strike."

Think about it, in the case of Nathaniel Jones, he was 342 pounds and strung out on cocaine and PCP. Aside from the strength he had from his size, an individual feeling the effects of illegal drugs can display strength beyond their size.

What the normal street cop knows is that this type of situation demands a certain degree of restraint, especially if a struggle is in process! But to the public, controlling the subject looks like brutality through the interpretation of the media.

"American people to this day have still not been taught anything about our need to control individuals - the types and levels of force we'll use, the strikes we will use to control a subject. The mere nature of the way our instruments are used, displayed, and strike. This is the kind of thing that people who are unaware of it would say 'look at that brutality.'"

This is made evident by the sheer way incidents like this are displayed through the media. They refer to them as 'police beatings.'

"The media goes for the most exacerbation to fill air time," Smith explains. In fact, the media usually makes the situation worse because it plays up the racial issue and ignites the spark of advocate groups.

"Oftentimes the reports could needlessly be damaging to the case and to the unity established in the country since the attacks on Sept. 11."

And because police 'brutality' and stories about racism attract viewers, journalists will often report a story before we even have all the evidence. The outcome is too many politically-based decisions.

"The most important thing, and the only thing, we can do to counteract that is to EDUCATE THE PUBLIC about our actions," Smith says. "These are not racial issues. They are not 'white-on-black struggles, they are 'arrestee on officer' struggles."

 

[ahenry]

I make a point of staying out threads like this but I am going to make an exception in order to make one small point regarding tasers. To the best of my knowledge, every cop in America (speaking of PD’s I mean) already carries around two less than lethal weapons. Asking them to carry a third borders on the ridiculous in my mind. There is absolutely no reason for cop to be required to make use of three different less then lethal weapons. One should suffice and two is overkill and three is just political hamstringing of the cops.

 

[Black92LX]

I make a point of staying out threads like this but I am going to make an exception in order to make one small point regarding tasers. To the best of my knowledge, every cop in America (speaking of PD’s I mean) already carries around two less than lethal weapons. Asking them to carry a third borders on the ridiculous in my mind. There is absolutely no reason for cop to be required to make use of three different less then lethal weapons. One should suffice and two is overkill and three is just political hamstringing of the cops.

well said.

 

[mrtgbnkr]

Just a quick note...

There has been a great deal of media coverage over the incident in Cincinnati, during which Kirkland Smith, 44, died in police custody. Many people are questioning how the police officers handled the situation and many citizens are once again making accusations of police brutality and racism.

Kirkland Smith died while in police custody in Dayton,OH...not Cincinnati. We now have this entire storm brewing here in Dayton too because the media has decided to create a hometown connection by drawing parallels between the two deaths. Fortunately, here in Dayton there has been a little restraint in that they still refer to Smith's death as occuring in "police custody" and not "beaten to death" by the police. The usual suspects in stirring the pot have already surfaced however, and are calling for a civil rights investigation into the death of Kirkland Smith, even before the results of the autopsy have been released.

 

[seeker_two]

ahenry: You are so right. There are already too many steps in the non-lethal force continum that a LEO has to go through & can be second-guessed on. It amazes me that more LEO's don't hesitate in a fight like this just because they're not sure which non-lethal option to use!

Add to the fact that a lot of criminals EXPECT the use of non-lethal force that they don't hesitate to fight LEO's w/ fist, feet, & bodily fluids. That puts a lot of LEO's in danger of injury & death.

I suggest going back to the good ol' days where the LEO's have one non-lethal option (baton, pepper spray, etc.) If the non-lethal option doesn't immediately stop the criminal, shoot them. Either way, it takes the fight out of like Nathaniel Jones.

 

[TheeBadOne]

Letters from Readers of the incident

Newsline No. 675 featured an article about the incident in Dayton, OH during which Kirkland Smith, 44, died in police custody after struggling with police when they tried to handcuff him. As mentioned in the Newsline, many people questioned how the police officers handled the situation and protesters made accusations of brutality and racism. This happened days after another incident in Cincinnati during which 41-year-old Nathaniel Jones died in custody of police following a struggle in a fast-food parking lot. Jones plunged at an officer and a struggle ensued. The media reported that officers used chemical spray and 'nightsticks' on him, and the death was ruled a homicide. Jones, who weighed 342 pounds, had an enlarged heart and was intoxicated on cocaine and PCP. He died from the stressful effects of the "beating", according to the coroner's report.A great deal of you wrote in with your own comments about the way the media covers these types of incidents and how the public needs to be educated on police use of force issues. We have included your comments in this Newsline, as well as a special feature on the reality of force issues written by Charles E. Humes, Jr., one of Calibre Press' founding fathers, and LE consultant Samuel D. Faulkner.

FROM:
Craig Meidl


"I just finished reading the article on the black male who died as a result of his fighting with police. I really enjoy the fact that when I read your articles, the benefit of the doubt is given to the officer unless proven otherwise once all the facts are in. It seems like officers almost always start out from a position of having to defend themselves when, in fact, they were the actual victims.

"Nobody in law enforcement wants a rogue officer on the street. They make us all look bad and make our jobs that much harder when contacting the public. But in the vast majority of cases, the officers are treated the same way sexual assault victims get treated on the stand; somehow we have become the bad guys and the suspect has become the victim. It seems as though many people want us to arrest bad guys, most of whom would rather not be arrested, and not use force when the arrest goes south, even on the most violent of offenders. They can't have it both ways. If they want to live in a society where the police don't use force to arrest bad guys who are violently resisting, then they can be the ones who deal with those same individuals the next time they kick down their door in the middle of the night to rape their wives or burglarize their house to support their drug habit.

"Sometimes, when we have to use force to arrest violent suspects, it isn't a pretty sight. Fights never are a pretty sight. And most of us have long careers ahead of us. The more fights we get in, the better chance we have of being medically retired with some sort of handicap because of that fight. We don't go out seeking fights and in almost all cases the bad guys are the ones who get to determine what level of force we use.

"Anyway, thanks for being a source of comfort to those of us who grow weary of the same old "police brutality" stories. It is nice to be reminded that not everyone thinks the way the media does and there are still a lot of people out there who think we are the good guys."

FROM:
Steve Ziman


"I just wanted to comment on Street Survival Newsline No. 675. After 30 years in law enforcement (now retired) including work in narcotics, gang unit, patrol, high school liaison officer and SWAT member, I have seen many uses of force to subdue individuals, white and black. I am sure that I personally have had to use force in making an arrest of white people more than all other segments of society put together. With that said, I want to agree with Dave Smith on his comment "Educate the Public" when it comes to countering these allegations of brutality.

"I personally have trained in the martial arts (A combined eight years). A couple of styles that I believe have saved me and the person I was arresting from injury. Therefore that brings me to the education part. It is primarily important for officers to be better trained in subduing those who resist arrest. To strike people with sticks is taking a chance. Even when speaking of large muscle groups. Unless the training is thorough and continuous throughout ones career.

"Even martial artists who train for six months to a year, day in and day out, find that they too are lacking when the time comes to use their training. So, continuous training is first. Secondly, and maybe more importantly, is to listen to the complaints that are coming from the African American community and sit down with their community and church leaders and brainstorm the parameters of necessary force. I truly believe that the African American community does not want to tie the hands of the police officers behind their backs anymore than anyone else. That would be foolish; often they need the police more than other communities. Then, Educate the Public to the meetings (see if the media will cover those meetings). The compromise that is necessary (and I believe there won't be much of a change) will alleviate the so called 'racial' issues and place the emphasis on the 'real' issue, and that is people resisting arrest, white or black."

FROM:
"Tim in Michigan"

"I am writing about your use of force and the media article involving Nathaniel Jones. It is very obvious that the media loves using air time to criticize and portray police officers as beasts. I live in the Traverse City area of Michigan which is in the Northwest part of the Lower Peninsula. I saw part of this incident on the local nightly news and on the nightly national news with Dan Rather (I would 'rather' watch someone else, but my wife loves him). The intro went something like this on both news outlets, 'there has been another police beating in Cincinnati,' and then it only showed a short clip of the incident and of course the part they showed was the officers using their batons and striking the subject behind a vehicle. And of course they never refer to them as batons, but as 'night sticks' or 'Billy clubs.'

"The interesting part of this is that I was later watching FOX News and they showed the entire video clip including Nathaniel lunging at the officer and chasing after him. They also mentioned that he was high on drugs, had an enlarged heart and basically portrayed him as the fat piece of ???? that he was, which the other news outlets did not.

"This only begs the question, why is one news outlet showing the whole story and not just trying to portray what they want you to see of the story as they did with Rodney King and many, many others?

"I would also like to add my two cents worth as far as what needs to be done to correct the situation with the media as to the best of our abilities. First I have to say that I am a police officer in a small rural area of Michigan. This area also has had the distinct embarrassment of having the local Judge seen at a concert smoking marijuana, not very judicial. I started my career by working down state in a larger department and then moving up north and working for a smaller department in a rural area that refuses to think that law enforcement has any rights other than to be there when the citizens snaps their fingers. I came to a department that had a total of less than 10 DUI and dope arrests in one year for the entire dept.

"In less than a year I increased that to about 60, so you can imagine all the friends that I made. Anyhow the citizens tried to have me fired, but there was not just cause. They then started a petition drive to demand that I be fired without just cause and that too failed. Well, you can't complain about DUI arrests, so we start making up other stories and well what the heck, lets involve the media. The media JUMPED at the opportunity.

"The police department responded the old fashioned way - 'no comment. That stirred up a hornets nest because now it appeared that they were covering for me. I was raked over the coals by the newspapers, and three or four other public media outlets on TV. This went on for weeks! And the only thing my department would say was, 'no comment.'

"We had all kinds of proof that the allegations weren't true, such as I wasn't even on duty during a lot of the incidents. The media kept writing over and over and over how I was an over zealous police officer that stopped vehicles for no reason, beat people up, violated their 4th amendment rights, stalked people, and waited in bar parking lots to arrest people. And of course their sources of information were the people being arrested for DUI and dope and then pleading guilty in court, but that never made the news, only 'no comment' did.

"I guess my point (I really do have one) is this, the media is going to say things about the police because it sells. Law enforcement is one of the most fascinating things to the vast majority of people. Police departments and police officers have to start manipulating the press by telling their stories and their side of incidents, instead of saying, 'no comment' or 'it is currently under investigation.' That is pure BS!! The media is not going to sit around and wait for 'our' side of it. We have to cram it down their throats and we have to tell it like it is. We have to quit hiding like we have something to be ashamed of, because we don't. Ninety-nine percent of us are truly honest, courageous people doing the very best we can. And some of us even go further and try to be 5% ers.

"Now obviously we cannot make the media print or relay what we have told them. And I'm sure that in every venue there is a media outlet that just plain doesn't like the police and will not put out both sides. Then we need to start dealing with them in a different way.

"They need to start being black balled. We no longer send press releases to them. Yes, they have a right to the information under the 'freedom of information act,' but let them fill out the necessary paperwork for the information and then make them wait the allotted time for the information. When there is a big news conference, forget to invite them! Start giving big stories to their rival media outlets. It seems that all big stories are leaked to the press, don't leak it to the ones that refuse to give us a fair shake. My guess is that eventually the heads of these organizations will wake up and smell the roses because yes knocking the police around does sell media, but so does having all the crime stories and other 'police stories.' People love reading and hearing about this stuff and there is a ton more of it than there is possible 'police screwing up' stories. If your media outlet doesn't get the stories, the people will go to the outlets that do and hence their income is going to get hurt, because after all, we all know it is about the money!!!"

 

[TheeBadOne]

REALITY AND THE POLICE USE OF FORCE

REALITY AND THE POLICE USE OF FORCE

By Charles E. Humes, Jr. and Samuel D. Faulkner

The last decade has brought numerous changes in Law Enforcement and perceptions of what a police officer does, should do, and is capable of doing. But one of the most dangerous is the nationwide common misperception that if a criminal gets injured while resisting arrest or assaulting a police officer, the police officer must have done something wrong. This may be true in rare cases, but is far from the norm. The general public is often misled by persons who have no idea of what occurs in a physical confrontation; and usually by those who have no experience in physical altercations and have never had to deal with the people the police frequently encounter.

In a study written by a college professor on the police use of force, she writes:

"BOTH ALSO SHOW THAT THE BEHAVIOR OF THE OPPONENT--IN TERMS OF BEING ANTAGONISTIC, ABUSIVE, AGGRESSIVE, AND INTOXICATED-EMERGES AS A STATISTICALLY SIGNIFICANT EXPLANATORY FACTOR IN USE OF FORCE SITUATIONS. OBVIOUSLY, IN MANY CASES WHERE POLICE ENCOUNTER SUCH OPPONENTS, ESPECIALLY IF THE OPPONENTS ARE INTOXICATED, THERE MAY BE LITTLE THE POLICE CAN DO TO RESOLVE THE SITUATION SHORT OF USING PHYSICAL FORCE." (1)

Dr. Croft further pointed out the infrequency that police officers use physical force. Of the 123,491 criminal arrests studied for her report, " THE 2,397 USE OF FORCE INCIDENTS REPRESENTED APPROXIMATELY 2% OF THE TOTAL CRIMINAL ARRESTS." (2)

It's time for the public, the government, and in some cases, police administrators, to look at reality. Generally speaking, when a police officer has to subdue a resisting criminal, he must chase him, knock him down, and handcuff him. Let's compare this to the time honored sport of football where the players are also chased and knocked to the ground.

1. Physical conditioning. The average football player is a tremendous athlete. Most train year round with strength, flexibility, and cardiovascular training. On the other hand, most violent criminals do not exercise. Most do not even work other than stealing from those who do. While there are exceptions, most are not prepared for physical conflicts.

2. Medical readiness. Before being allowed to take the field and be knocked down, the football player must undergo a complete physical examination by a doctor. On the other hand, most criminals only see a doctor when another criminal shoots or stabs them; or as they drive off after stealing the doctor's car.

3. Safety equipment. Football players wear state-of-the-art helmets, padding, and other protective equipment. Fleeing and/or violent criminals wear none of these.

4. Environment. Football players play on an extremely controlled, grassy surface especially designed for the safe play of the game. It has boundaries and is free of obstructions. When subduing criminals; there are no boundaries. The surfaces range from stairways, to fields, to glass littered alleys, to living room floors. Often these areas are cluttered with everything from tables, to cars, to broken down appliances.

5. Medical support. Trainers, doctors and life squads line the playing field to immediately respond to any unusual occurrence, and they are never delayed by sniper fire or rocks and bottles. Police officers must often wait several minutes for medical help to arrive if a criminal or officer is injured.

6. Referees. There are referees present at a ball game to make sure that everyone plays the game within the boundaries of the rules and regulations. When police officers are combating a resisting criminal, there are no rules FOR THE RESISTING CRIMINAL.

7. Sobriety. Football players are not allowed to play when they are so intoxicated from alcohol or other drugs that any exertion is a danger to them. Studies have shown that a criminal is most likely to be under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs when he resists. (3)

8. Infractions. When a football player is grabbed for a tackle, he does not turn around and try to punch, stab, or shoot the opposing player. It is not uncommon for police officers to be assaulted in such a fashion when an officer catches up to a fleeing criminal.

9. Lighting. Night time football games are played under incredibly bright stadium lights. Police officers often must combat criminals with little or no light whatsoever.

10. Time out. If a football player is winded or temporarily unable to continue to play, he just calls for a time out and the team regroups. A police officer struggling with a violent criminal gets no breaks, no time outs, no second chance.

Every year, even with all the aforementioned safety details followed; football players are injured, maimed for life, or even killed on the playing field. It's accepted as an unfortunate consequence of competition; it's just part of the game.

Police officers operate under conditions that football players wouldn't even consider. They engage in confrontations that are much more violent than any football game; and if a violent criminal gets injured, the perception is the officer must have done something wrong.

It's time for the public and governing bodies to make a decision. Do they want to insure the safety of the public, or the unrealistic pampering of the criminal element? It is just plain ludicrous to expect police officers to not put a scratch on criminals who are violently assaulting them and/or violently resisting arrest. To do so is to ask for the impossible.

The fact that a physical confrontation can cause injuries and sometimes death is not a choice, it's not an option, it's just the way it is. If it was a choice, football players would never be injured, crippled, or killed.

Police officers don't force criminals to choose a criminal lifestyle, but they are given the task of protecting citizens from the carnage a criminal lifestyle produces. The criminals have made their choice, it's time for society to make theirs.