By Dan Horn
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Thousands of people in Cincinnati and around the country have watched the videotape clip of Nathaniel Jones' violent and ultimately fatal confrontation with Cincinnati police officers Sunday morning.

But many see something very different in the tape's grainy images.

DETAILS FROM VIDEO

5:58 a.m.: Police arrive at the White Castle in North Avondale after paramedics call about an unruly man in the parking lot. 6:00 a.m.: Jones, off camera, shouts at police officers, calling one of them "a white boy." One of the officers tells Jones to "back up, back up." Jones rushes an officer, swings at him and appears to tackle him. "My momma taught me this," he says as he charges. 6:00-6:01 a.m.: Jones and one of the officers fall to the ground, and a second officer joins in. Jones continues to flail as the officers begin to strike him on the legs, arms and torso with their batons. One officer repeatedly shouts, "Put your hands behind your back!" 6:01-6:02 a.m.: Jones rises and grabs an officer's baton. He is quickly pushed down again. Several other officers arrive. One uses pepper spray. 6:03 a.m.: Jones is down and the officers work to handcuff him. Because of his size, they use three sets of handcuffs. Jones can be heard moaning and occasionally mumbling, "Momma." 6:03:30 a.m.: The officers apparently realize Jones is in distress. One checks his vital signs; another looks for paramedics. "Where'd they go?" he says. 6:04 a.m.: An officer appears to try to revive Jones, shouting "Sir? Sir?" Officers continue to look for the paramedics. "They bailed," one officer says. "They call us, then they leave. ... What a bunch of crap," says another. 6:05 a.m.: Paramedics return and begin CPR.

POLICE VIDEO

• View the raw police video

Police officials see a textbook arrest of a violent, out-of-control suspect in the parking lot of a White Castle restaurant in North Avondale. The leader of the police union sees officers fending off a dangerous attack. Community activists see a savage assault on an unarmed man who ended up dead.

Those dramatically different views may have more to do with who is watching the tape then what it actually recorded.

Experts on police use of force and police tactics say Cincinnati's recent history of riots, racial tension and accusations of police misconduct have conditioned some in the community to believe the best or worst about police before they know all the facts.

That's dangerous in this case, they say, because the video that has stirred so much controversy and generated television and radio talk show commentary does not tell the whole story.

"When people see that video, it's all things to all people," said Francis Cullen, a criminal justice professor at the University of Cincinnati. "It's seen in the context of other things that have been happening in Cincinnati."

For the most part, Cullen said, police in the video appear to be following accepted police practices for dealing with a violent suspect. Once a suspect strikes an officer, as Jones did, it's the job of officers on the scene to subdue him as quickly as possible.

Cullen said the actions of police may look severe, or even excessive, but that doesn't mean the officers broke any rules.

"Force is never pretty. It's always going to be disturbing," Cullen said. "They're going to continue the use of violence until they control him, that's the goal. Once he attacks them or is a threat to other people, that's their job."

He also noted that the video does not show everything.

The tape, shot from a camera in a police cruiser, was not recording for the 90 seconds leading up to the confrontation because the officer turned off his car, which turned off the camera. Also, he said, some of the struggle takes place out of the view of the stationary camera.

What the tape doesn't show may end up being as important as what it does, said Geoffrey Alpert, a University of South Carolina professor who has written several books about how police use force.

Alpert said the video did not record the interaction of police and Jones before it became violent and does not reveal whether Jones reached for one of the officer's guns or other weapons. If he had, officers are trained to use greater force, including deadly force, to stop him.

"There's a lot you don't know, a lot you don't see and some things we may never know," Alpert said.

"We have the luxury of time," he said. "We have to dissect this before we rush to judgment."

E-mail dhorn@enquirer.com