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Interview With Carl Taylor

Aired December 03, 2003 - 14:49   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: We want to bring our guest back that we were trying to talk to a little bit earlier. Criminologist Carl Taylor, joining us from Detroit today to talk about what we heard in the press conference. Mr. Taylor, what are your thoughts as to -- I know you were listening in the whole time. What is your first thought here?
CARL TAYLOR, CRIMINOLOGIST: Well it was a very depressing report. I thought that it certainly showed that the victim killed himself, as the police did make a contribution, because of the struggle, the violent struggle.

COLLINS: Yes, they're actually calling it multifactoral. The coroner was saying without all those factor, the drugs, the heart, the struggle, Nathaniel Jones would have lived. Obviously, that was not the case. Is that what you took from that?

TAYLOR: Very accurate. I think that he was a large man and those other conditions of hypertension mixed with illicit narcotics certainly make a bad mix. And with him panicking and getting excited, I'm certain this led to his death.

COLLINS: Are you familiar with the situation, as far as the culture and race relations, in Cincinnati?

TAYLOR: Oh, absolutely. That's why I'm, quite frankly, surprised that the sensitivity or lack of sensitivity was not there.

COLLINS: What do you mean by that?

TAYLOR: Well, I think that most Americans know that Cincinnati has a very strained relationship with the black community and their police department.

The federal government has also decided that they need to be overwatched. And so I would think that anytime they would have any type of arrest, that they would be supersensitive, that they would have training to prepare them, that they would not have a negative outcome, as they have now.

COLLINS: You say the federal government is concerned. How so?

TAYLOR: I believe that they have a federal person there -- I'm sorry, not a federal person, but a monitor, to make certain the Cincinnati Police Department is not violating anyone's civil rights, or that they're behaving in a very professional way. I believe it's a former attorney general -- I believe it's Sal Green, who is actually from Detroit. But they have monitors by the Department of Justice to make certain that the department making its way back to a more professional department. That is a fact.

So I think there was a concern of the relationship. And unfortunately it seems that this has not trickled down to the troops.

COLLINS: Well, of course that would be -- leave a lot of interpretation coming from the police department as well. A struggle, once again, being named as the primary cause of death for Nathaniel Jones. The coroner, putting it in his words, this does not imply the police used excessive force.

And we certainly appreciate your time, once again. Carl Taylor, glad you could hear us better this time around.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com







Aired December 3, 2003 - 14:49   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: We want to bring our guest back that we were trying to talk to a little bit earlier. Criminologist Carl Taylor, joining us from Detroit today to talk about what we heard in the press conference. Mr. Taylor, what are your thoughts as to -- I know you were listening in the whole time. What is your first thought here?
CARL TAYLOR, CRIMINOLOGIST: Well it was a very depressing report. I thought that it certainly showed that the victim killed himself, as the police did make a contribution, because of the struggle, the violent struggle.

COLLINS: Yes, they're actually calling it multifactoral. The coroner was saying without all those factor, the drugs, the heart, the struggle, Nathaniel Jones would have lived. Obviously, that was not the case. Is that what you took from that?

TAYLOR: Very accurate. I think that he was a large man and those other conditions of hypertension mixed with illicit narcotics certainly make a bad mix. And with him panicking and getting excited, I'm certain this led to his death.

COLLINS: Are you familiar with the situation, as far as the culture and race relations, in Cincinnati?

TAYLOR: Oh, absolutely. That's why I'm, quite frankly, surprised that the sensitivity or lack of sensitivity was not there.

COLLINS: What do you mean by that?

TAYLOR: Well, I think that most Americans know that Cincinnati has a very strained relationship with the black community and their police department.

The federal government has also decided that they need to be overwatched. And so I would think that anytime they would have any type of arrest, that they would be supersensitive, that they would have training to prepare them, that they would not have a negative outcome, as they have now.

COLLINS: You say the federal government is concerned. How so?

TAYLOR: I believe that they have a federal person there -- I'm sorry, not a federal person, but a monitor, to make certain the Cincinnati Police Department is not violating anyone's civil rights, or that they're behaving in a very professional way. I believe it's a former attorney general -- I believe it's Sal Green, who is actually from Detroit. But they have monitors by the Department of Justice to make certain that the department making its way back to a more professional department. That is a fact.

So I think there was a concern of the relationship. And unfortunately it seems that this has not trickled down to the troops.

COLLINS: Well, of course that would be -- leave a lot of interpretation coming from the police department as well. A struggle, once again, being named as the primary cause of death for Nathaniel Jones. The coroner, putting it in his words, this does not imply the police used excessive force.

And we certainly appreciate your time, once again. Carl Taylor, glad you could hear us better this time around.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com