File #: Res 1203-2003    Version: * Name: Strongly condemn the Cincinnati police officers involved in the vicious beating death of Nathaniel Jones.
Type: Resolution Status: Filed
Committee: Committee on Cultural Affairs, Libraries and International Intergroup Relations
On agenda: 12/15/2003
Enactment date: Law number:
Title: Resolution calling upon the City Council to strongly condemn the Cincinnati police officers involved in the vicious beating death of Nathaniel Jones and calling upon state and federal authorities to launch a thorough and immediate investigation into the Cincinnati police department's use of excessive force and continuous disregard and disrespect for the black citizens of Cincinnati.
Sponsors: Charles Barron, Maria Baez, Yvette D. Clarke, Allan W. Jennings, Jr., G. Oliver Koppell, Margarita Lopez, Miguel Martinez, Joel Rivera, James Sanders, Jr., Larry B. Seabrook, Kendall Stewart, Albert Vann
Council Member Sponsors: 12
Res. No. 1203 Title Resolution calling upon the City Council to strongly condemn the Cincinnati police officers involved in the vicious beating death of Nathaniel Jones and calling upon state and federal authorities to launch a thorough and immediate investigation into the Cincinnati police department's use of excessive force and continuous disregard and disrespect for the black citizens of Cincinnati. Body By Council Members Barron, Baez, Clarke, Jennings, Koppell, Lopez, Martinez, Rivera, Sanders, Seabrook, Stewart and Vann Whereas, Cincinnati has had a troubling history of its police force using excessive force against certain black residents of Cincinnati; and Whereas, In 2001, Cincinnati erupted in three days of protests after officers fatally shot an unarmed 19 year-old black man, Timothy Thomas, who was fleeing arrest; and Whereas, The shooting death of Timothy Thomas was the 15th time a person died while in police custody in six years, all the victims of such violence being black men; and Whereas, A federal investigation into the 2001 shooting death of Timothy Thomas resulted in an agreement by Cincinnati to tighten policies regarding use of force and to improve handling of citizen complaints against the police force; and Whereas, On Sunday, November 30, 2003, Nathaniel Jones, a black male resident of Cincinnati, died shortly after a confrontation with Cincinnati police in which he was repeatedly struck by two white police officers wielding aluminum nightsticks; and Whereas, The beating of Nathaniel Jones was captured by a camera mounted on a police cruiser and such video shows the police officers repeatedly striking Mr. Jones with their nightsticks; and Whereas, There is a 97-second gap near the beginning of the videotape, which critics of the Cincinnati police contend may show damaging evidence of the police officers inappropriately responding with excessive force; and Whereas, The six officers involved in the incident, five white and one black, have been placed on administrative leave; and Whereas, The Cincinnati police have launched two investigations and the Citizen Complaint Authority, the Department of Justice and the NAACP have all, additionally, launched investigations into this matter; now, therefore, be it Resolved, That the Council of the City of New York strongly condemns the Cincinnati police officers involved in the vicious beating death of Nathaniel Jones and calls upon state and federal authorities to launch a thorough and immediate investigation into the Cincinnati police department's use of excessive force and continuous disregard and disrespect for the black citizens of Cincinnati. LS# 3657 12/8/03 MT |1013|