Nathaniel Jones (police custody death)

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Nathaniel Jones died in December 2003 after assaulting Cincinnati police and resisting their attempts to arrest him outside a White Castle hamburger shop in Cincinnati, Ohio. The fact that Jones weighed almost 350 pounds has increased both the publicity surrounding the case, and the questions about whether the amount of force used to subdue him was necessary. The death was first ruled to be caused by excited delirium. ^[1]

"The coroner [later] ruled Jones' death a homicide, but cautioned it did not imply that police used excessive force. The direct cause of death was the struggle, the autopsy showed, but Jones suffered from an enlarged heart and obesity and had intoxicating levels of cocaine, PCP and methanol in his blood."[1]

Some local activists denounced the police beating as an example of police brutality and racism, but Jones's family asked that a planned rally be called off. Two black columnists asked searching questions about drug abuse and personal responsibility, subconscious racism and excessive force. Two of the seven officers that ultimately subdued Jones were African American, as was Jones, which defused some of the concerns about racism in regards to the use of force.[2][3]