Police in Phoenix, Arizona, are reportedly under investigation following the violent arrest of a deaf black man who could not hear their commands, sparking outrage from disability rights groups.
“Tyron (McAlpin) was simply trying to avoid being injured by an aggressive and out of control police officer. He does not hear any of the orders given to him and the assault never stops, and the officers never do anything to defuse the situation,” his lawyer Jesse Showalter lamented, according to CBS News on Tuesday.
The arrest allegedly occurred on August 19, when two Phoenix Police Department officers were called to a convenience store because a white man who was loitering on the premises claimed to have been attacked and had his cell phone stolen by pointing to the fault lies with a black man nearby, according to the American media.
Except that according to body camera images, as well as surveillance video at the scene, the police then arrested the man in question in their vehicle, before opening the door and pounced on him.
The black man, Tyron McAlpin, was allegedly beaten ten times and electrocuted with a taser several times, before being arrested and detained for 24 days for allegedly assaulting police officers and resisting police. their arrest, according to CBS News.
In the videos, one of the officers, Kyle Sue, can be heard telling his colleague, Benjamin Harris, that he had been bitten by the inmate. Nothing in the footage suggests that the police knew the man was deaf or that he suffered from cerebral palsy before his arrest.
The man reportedly pleaded not guilty, and no charges were filed against him regarding the white man’s statements.
“He had done nothing wrong, so all the force they used was excessive, unnecessary and unreasonable,” continued his lawyer according to the American media.
The images sparked revolt among several activist groups, including the American civil rights organization NAACP, which strongly denounced “the brutal attack due to the false claims of a white citizen,” according to CBS.
“He had done nothing wrong and he also had communication problems. His attack occurred seconds after the police vehicle was parked. No real communication was present during this meeting,” insisted Andre Miller, vice-president of the Arizona State Conference (NAACP).
For its part, the Arizona Commission for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing said it was “discouraged”, adding that it had nevertheless offered training to first responders to communicate with the deaf, hard of hearing and deafblind “but these modules do not are not currently used.
Contacted by CBS News, the Phoenix Police Department declined to comment, saying only that it was investigating the actions of its employees.
