The arrest of a hearing-impaired black man with cerebral palsy who was repeatedly struck with a Taser by two Phoenix police officers in August, left him shocked and later charged with aggravated assault and resisting arrest, has been renewed. A thorough investigation is underway.
Tyrone McAlpin was arrested on August 19th by Officers Benjamin Harris and Kyle Hsu. But his arrest gained national attention after one of his attorneys, Jesse Showalter, released police body camera video and surveillance footage of his arrest.
Some see the officers’ actions as further evidence that the Phoenix Police Department discriminates against minorities and uses excessive force, and that federal oversight is needed. There is no indication that the officers knew McAlpin was deaf or had cerebral palsy before his arrest.
Amid growing public outcry, Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell said in a statement Monday that the case “deserves further scrutiny.” Phoenix is the county seat of Maricopa County.
Mitchell said she has “a lot of confidence” in the attorneys working for the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office and those who have previously reviewed the case, but plans to look into the case herself.
“Due to the high profile nature of this incident, I personally intend to review the entire file and video in its entirety,” she said. “I may or may not reach a different conclusion, but I believe this case deserves further scrutiny.”
Shortly before 8 a.m. on Aug. 19, Harris responded to an emergency call of a fight at the Circle K convenience store on East Indian School Road, according to a police incident report provided to NBC News by McAlpin’s attorney.
According to a police incident report, the 911 caller said the assailant was a white man in his 20s who was still inside the store. Harris spoke with the man, who appeared disheveled with dried blood on his T-shirt, according to Harris’ account of the interaction included in the incident report.
The man told Harris he was assaulted after he tried to stop a bicycle theft, according to the incident report. While speaking with officers, he pointed to 34-year-old McAlpin, who was walking nearby, as the person who had assaulted him, according to the incident report.
Harris and Sue pursued McAlpin in separate vehicles and captured him in the parking lot of another store.
Harris’ body camera video shows him exiting his car and attempting to arrest McAlpin within seconds. The officer said in the report that he did so because McAlpin did not respond to verbal commands to “stop where you are.” McAlpin’s attorney said McAlpin was unable to follow the officers’ commands because he is hearing impaired.
Harris said that after he got out of the car and tried to grab McAlpin’s left arm, McAlpin “immediately threw a punch and engaged in an aggressive attack” from his left arm toward Harris’ head.
Body camera video shows that within 15 seconds, one of the officers said “Tase” and ordered McAlpin to put his hands behind his back. Sue repeatedly punched McAlpin in the head. As McAlpin lay face down and Sue put her left hand behind her back, Harris shocked McAlpin with a Taser and yelled for her to put her hand behind her back. Sue punches McAlpine in the back again. Makalpin screams and moves his right hand behind his back. Harris told Sue, “I think I broke my hand,” and Harris said McAlpin bit him, body camera video shows. Much of the interaction was captured on Harris’ body camera. Sue’s body camera went off at the beginning of the arrest, showing only the ground. McAlpin’s lawyer denied that his client bit Sue and said he believed both officers’ injuries were the result of a “frenzied and violent attack on Tyrone.”
A series of noises could be heard after Mr McAlpin was handcuffed.
McAlpin’s wife arrived at the scene minutes later and told officers he was deaf and had cerebral palsy, according to body camera video. She asks police to let McAlpin know she’s at the scene, but Harris responds: He doesn’t need to know. ” The video shows McAlpin lying on the ground in the parking lot with Sue, Harris and another officer. The woman asked for the officer’s badge number and name and told him the Taser was a mistake. At one point, his wife tried to approach him, but Harris told her to take a step back or she would be arrested, the video shows.
McAlpin was charged with two felonies of aggravated assault and one count of resisting arrest, as well as a misdemeanor count of theft after a white man accused her of stealing his cellphone, according to a complaint obtained by NBC News. The theft charges were dismissed in September.
Showalter said in an interview Monday that he obtained the video and police report from McAlpin’s parents. NBC News has filed, but has not yet received, public records requests for these and other files. Mr. Showalter also requested that police provide body camera footage from an Aug. 19 police interrogation of a Circle K employee who denied allegations of assault by a white man, as well as other full files related to Mr. McAlpin’s arrest. He said he requested it. The lawyer said he has not yet received a response. He said if he doesn’t receive that information by November, he plans to sue under the Public Records Act.
Showalter said his priority remains getting the wrongful charges dismissed.
“When a person is charged with a felony, there is a consequent loss of civil rights and potentially prison time, and that should always be the first priority,” he said. “My personal focus is to make sure people in this community are aware that this happened, and once they hear this story, they will come forward with further information. ”
Phoenix Police Department said in a statement Monday that McAlpin’s arrest is the subject of an ongoing internal investigation and that he was assigned to the Office of Professional Standards on Aug. 30.
The department did not respond to questions about the employment status of the officers under investigation.
The Arizona NAACP asked that they be placed on administrative leave pending a full investigation into their actions and that the community be informed of the investigation’s timeline. The group is also demanding that the charges be dropped, that police release body camera footage and surveillance footage of the arrest, and that police departments immediately review and reform their procedures for interacting with people with disabilities.
Arizona State Vice President Andre Miller said, “Tyrone was not a suspect in an actual crime and had done nothing wrong. He also had communication problems and his assault occurred after the police vehicle was parked.” It happened a few seconds later.” NAACP Conference. “There was no real communication in this encounter.”
In June, after a three-year investigation, the Department of Justice found that Phoenix police discriminated against blacks, Hispanics, and Native Americans when enforcing the law, illegally detained homeless people, and used excessive force, including unreasonable deadly force. They published a report that revealed that they are doing the same. It disproportionately targets communities of color.
