All charges have been dismissed against a deaf Black man with cerebral palsy who was shocked with a Taser and repeatedly punched by Phoenix police officers.
Tyron McAlpin, 34, was charged with two counts of aggravated assault and one count of resisting arrest, both felonies, after police accused him of failing to respond to verbal commands and engaging in “active aggression by swinging punches” at an officer during an Aug. 19 arrest.
McAlpin was also charged with a misdemeanor count of theft after he was accused of stealing a man’s cell phone. That charge was dismissed in September.
Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell said Thursday that she had completed a review of the case and made the decision to dismiss the assault and resisting arrest charges.
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“Last Friday, a leader of the local chapter of the NAACP shared his concern with me regarding the prosecution of Mr. Tyron McAlpin. I promised I would personally review the case including a large volume of video recordings, police reports, and other materials that have been forwarded to my office,” she said in a statement. “On Tuesday of this week, I also convened a large gathering of senior attorneys and members of the community to hear their opinions as they pertain to this case.”
Mitchell continued: “I have now completed my review and have made the decision to dismiss all remaining charges against Mr. McAlpin.”
Mitchell’s office and an attorney for McAlpin did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Saturday.
The arrest stemmed from an incident at a Circle K convenience store on E. Indian School Road. Police responded to the store after receiving a 911 call about a fight, according to a police incident report previously provided to NBC News by McAlpin’s attorney Jesse Showalter.
The 911 caller said a white man in his 20s had been the aggressor and was still in the store, the police incident report said. Officer Benjamin Harris spoke with the man who said he had been assaulted after he tried to stop the theft of a bike, according to the incident report. The man then pointed to McAlpin, who was walking nearby, and identified him as the person who assaulted him.
Harris and officer Kyle Sue pursued McAlpin in separate vehicles and stopped him in the parking lot of another store.
Body camera video recently released by Showalter showed that Harris attempted to arrest McAlpin within seconds of exiting his vehicle. Harris said in his report that he did so because McAlpin didn’t respond to a verbal command to stop. Showalter said McAlpin could not comply with the commands because he is deaf.
Harris alleged that after he exited his vehicle and tried to take hold of McAlpin’s arm, McAlpin “immediately engaged in active aggression by swinging punches” at the officer’s head.
During the arrest, one of the officers said “tase him” and ordered McAlpin to put his hands behind his back, the body camera video showed. Officer Sue repeatedly punched McAlpin on the head, according to the footage. While McAlpin was face down on the ground and Sue held his left hand behind his back, Harris shocked McAlpin with a Taser and yelled for him to put his hands behind his back.
Sue again punched McAlpin in his back, the video showed. After McAlpin was handcuffed, he could be heard making a series of noises. McAlpin’s wife eventually arrived at the scene. She could be heard in the video telling the officers that her husband is deaf and has cerebral palsy.
McAlpin’s attorney said Monday that the officers launched a “frenzied and violent attack on Tyron.” He said he had requested from police additional videos, including body camera footage from the officers’ interviews with workers at the Circle K who refuted the man’s assault claim, as well as other files of McAlpin’s arrest. The attorney said he plans to file a lawsuit if he does not receive the information by November.
Earlier this year, the Justice Department found the Phoenix Police Department discriminates against Black, Hispanic and Native American people when enforcing the law, uses excessive force, disproportionately targets communities of color, and unlawfully detains homeless people. The DOJ released its findings in June following a three-year investigation.
