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American Morning

Death in Police Custody

Aired December 02, 2003 - 07:16   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.


ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: A coroner's report says that the man who died while in the custody of Cincinnati police had traces of cocaine and PCP in his system. On a police video tape -- you see it here -- four white officers can be seen using nightsticks to subdue Nathaniel Jones, an African-American man who had lunged at them.
The death of Jones on Sunday has brought new allegations of brutality by the city's police force, according to some. Cincinnati police have killed 14 suspects since 1995.

The six officers who were involved have been placed on administrative leave, which is the police department's standard procedure.

For more on the case, we are joined by Cincinnati's chief of police, Thomas Streicher, Jr.

Appreciate you joining us, Chief Streicher. Thanks very much.

Do you have any doubts at this moment in time that these officers acted responsibly?

CHIEF THOMAS STREICHER, CINCINNATI POLICE: Well, I think all we can do at this time, Mr. Cooper, is make a preliminary judgment based on what we're seeing on the tape -- that being clear the officers came under attack. At one point, they are defending themselves. At another point, a transition is made to where they're trying to make an arrest of a person for a felony act of violence. Certainly the standard for use of force in the United States is that the officers can use force to defend themselves and in order to overcome resistance to arrest, and that's what appears is going on, on the tape, at this point.

COOPER: We've all probably seen this tape, and no doubt you have watched it quite a lot since this event happened. There have been some in the community who have said that there is a gap on the tape. That when -- there is a moment when the tape is on and then it turns off and then it turns back on. They said it's a minute and a half that seems to be missing. Can you explain that, that missing part of the tape?

STREICHER: Well, it's a valid question to ask. I can tell you that the operation of our mobile video recorders. One, is that when the officer engages is over -- when he turns on his overhead lights, that automatically engages the mobile video recorder inside the car, so that you -- on the tape you see him driving to the scene and arriving at the scene. When the car is turned off as he parks the car that automatically turns off the system. That's just something to avoid the battery being run down in the car and us having dead batteries in police cars.

The officers then have a remote control system that is on their belt, so that if they're in a contact with a citizen or they're some place where they believe that something should be recorded, they can simply hit a button on their belt that automatically turns on the video recorder and the audio recorder inside the car. It allows us to record that, and that's what appears to have happened here. And if so, I think it was a very wise decision on the part of the officers.

COOPER: So, essentially what you're saying is when the lights were on and they arrived at the scene, the tape is rolling. The lights turned off when they first got there.

STREICHER: Right.

COOPER: The tape turns off. And then they decided at some point...

STREICHER: Yes, automatically.

COOPER: Automatically it turns off. Then at some point they decide you know what? This is getting hairy. We need to turn this thing on.

STREICHER: Exactly, exactly.

COOPER: All right. I want to play you something that the chapter president of the NAACP in Cincinnati had to say about this tape, Dr. Calvert Smith. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. CALVERT SMITH, CHAPTER PRESIDENT, NAACP CINCINNATI: 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.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: Given the history of problems with the African-American community and the Cincinnati Police Department, I believe you all have reworked your procedures for how you deal with a lot of cases. Do you feel this is going to be a big setback?

STREICHER: I don't think it's going to be a giant setback. I think what Mr. Smith is saying and probably a lot of people are saying is that there are very valid questions. And that's the reason it's incumbent upon the police department to conduct a 360-degree evaluation of this incident, so that hopefully at the end of the day, we can answer each and every question that everybody has. And that's our goal at this point -- to answer all of those questions. Because there are different perspectives from different parts of society, and those concerns are valid concerns and that's the reason we should try to answer those questions. COOPER: Where does this thing go from here? I know a number of investigations are under way. The officers are on administrative leave, which the standard procedure. How long does that last for?

STREICHER: That lasts for seven days, a combination of the next five work days and their two off days whenever we have someone involved in a critical incident, and then they'll see the police psychologist. The psychologist will then consult with me, and I'll speak to each of the officers. We'll make a determination of when they're ready to come back to duty.

These things take a tremendous toll on the officers. You can see it's gone from something here local to something that's national and, in fact, our understanding even international in scope. That puts a lot of stress on the officers. It puts them under a lot of scrutiny. And we have to be concerned about their well-being, as well as the well-being of every citizen that we have here in Cincinnati.

COOPER: Chief Thomas Streicher, we appreciate you joining us. thanks very much.

STREICHER: My pleasure, sir.

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 2, 2003 - 07:16   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: A coroner's report says that the man who died while in the custody of Cincinnati police had traces of cocaine and PCP in his system. On a police video tape -- you see it here -- four white officers can be seen using nightsticks to subdue Nathaniel Jones, an African-American man who had lunged at them.
The death of Jones on Sunday has brought new allegations of brutality by the city's police force, according to some. Cincinnati police have killed 14 suspects since 1995.

The six officers who were involved have been placed on administrative leave, which is the police department's standard procedure.

For more on the case, we are joined by Cincinnati's chief of police, Thomas Streicher, Jr.

Appreciate you joining us, Chief Streicher. Thanks very much.

Do you have any doubts at this moment in time that these officers acted responsibly?

CHIEF THOMAS STREICHER, CINCINNATI POLICE: Well, I think all we can do at this time, Mr. Cooper, is make a preliminary judgment based on what we're seeing on the tape -- that being clear the officers came under attack. At one point, they are defending themselves. At another point, a transition is made to where they're trying to make an arrest of a person for a felony act of violence. Certainly the standard for use of force in the United States is that the officers can use force to defend themselves and in order to overcome resistance to arrest, and that's what appears is going on, on the tape, at this point.

COOPER: We've all probably seen this tape, and no doubt you have watched it quite a lot since this event happened. There have been some in the community who have said that there is a gap on the tape. That when -- there is a moment when the tape is on and then it turns off and then it turns back on. They said it's a minute and a half that seems to be missing. Can you explain that, that missing part of the tape?

STREICHER: Well, it's a valid question to ask. I can tell you that the operation of our mobile video recorders. One, is that when the officer engages is over -- when he turns on his overhead lights, that automatically engages the mobile video recorder inside the car, so that you -- on the tape you see him driving to the scene and arriving at the scene. When the car is turned off as he parks the car that automatically turns off the system. That's just something to avoid the battery being run down in the car and us having dead batteries in police cars.

The officers then have a remote control system that is on their belt, so that if they're in a contact with a citizen or they're some place where they believe that something should be recorded, they can simply hit a button on their belt that automatically turns on the video recorder and the audio recorder inside the car. It allows us to record that, and that's what appears to have happened here. And if so, I think it was a very wise decision on the part of the officers.

COOPER: So, essentially what you're saying is when the lights were on and they arrived at the scene, the tape is rolling. The lights turned off when they first got there.

STREICHER: Right.

COOPER: The tape turns off. And then they decided at some point...

STREICHER: Yes, automatically.

COOPER: Automatically it turns off. Then at some point they decide you know what? This is getting hairy. We need to turn this thing on.

STREICHER: Exactly, exactly.

COOPER: All right. I want to play you something that the chapter president of the NAACP in Cincinnati had to say about this tape, Dr. Calvert Smith. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. CALVERT SMITH, CHAPTER PRESIDENT, NAACP CINCINNATI: 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.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: Given the history of problems with the African-American community and the Cincinnati Police Department, I believe you all have reworked your procedures for how you deal with a lot of cases. Do you feel this is going to be a big setback?

STREICHER: I don't think it's going to be a giant setback. I think what Mr. Smith is saying and probably a lot of people are saying is that there are very valid questions. And that's the reason it's incumbent upon the police department to conduct a 360-degree evaluation of this incident, so that hopefully at the end of the day, we can answer each and every question that everybody has. And that's our goal at this point -- to answer all of those questions. Because there are different perspectives from different parts of society, and those concerns are valid concerns and that's the reason we should try to answer those questions. COOPER: Where does this thing go from here? I know a number of investigations are under way. The officers are on administrative leave, which the standard procedure. How long does that last for?

STREICHER: That lasts for seven days, a combination of the next five work days and their two off days whenever we have someone involved in a critical incident, and then they'll see the police psychologist. The psychologist will then consult with me, and I'll speak to each of the officers. We'll make a determination of when they're ready to come back to duty.

These things take a tremendous toll on the officers. You can see it's gone from something here local to something that's national and, in fact, our understanding even international in scope. That puts a lot of stress on the officers. It puts them under a lot of scrutiny. And we have to be concerned about their well-being, as well as the well-being of every citizen that we have here in Cincinnati.

COOPER: Chief Thomas Streicher, we appreciate you joining us. thanks very much.

STREICHER: My pleasure, sir.

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