After widespread outrage over videos showing two police officers beating a deaf Black man, the police union responded again that the officers were defending themselves ― and claimed media coverage of the incident amounted to a “smear campaign.”
Tyron McAlpin, a 34-year-old who also has cerebral palsy, was punched and shocked with a Taser by two Phoenix Police Department officers on Aug. 19 as they tried to stop him in connection with a reported assault. But McAlpin had nothing to do with any assault, his attorney told HuffPost, adding that witnesses described the white man who accused him as behaving bizarrely. Then this week, the release of surveillance and body camera footage brought new scrutiny of the officers’ actions, and the Maricopa County Attorney announced that all charges against McAlpin would be dismissed based on what the videos showed.
He had spent 24 days in jail.
Tyron McAlpin, 34, in a photo shared by the law firm Robbins Curtin Millea & Showalter.
Despite the prosecutor’s decision, the Phoenix Law Enforcement Association, the union that represents about 2,200 officers, continues to defend the actions of officers Benjamin Harris and Kyle Sue.
“It is unfortunate that a narrative was created accusing these officers of targeting Mr. McAlpin due to his race and disabilities,” the police union said in a statement to the broadcasting group Arizona’s Family . “This is completely false and an inaccurate portrayal of what occurred in real time as the officers encountered Mr. McAlpin.”
The beating of McAlpin comes just months after the Department of Justice found “overwhelming statistical evidence” that Phoenix police discriminate against Black, Hispanic and Native American people and use excessive force. In a letter, Phoenix city officials denied they need federal oversight but said they are committed to ongoing efforts to reform the police department.
On Aug. 19, McAlpin had walked to a Circle K convenience store to pick up a drink for his partner while she worked from their nearby home and looked after their infant son, McAlpin’s attorney, Jesse Showalter, told HuffPost.
A white man walked into the Circle K saying that he had been in a fight and demanded that employees call police, Showalter said. Multiple store employees told an investigator working for the law firm that the man in the store was “behaving bizarrely,” Showalter said, describing him as a “troubled person.”
According to Showalter, employees said the man was aggressive toward their customers, refused to leave and at one point was lying on the floor.
Officers were then called to the store, and the man told them that he had been punched in the face after trying to stop a thief from stealing a bike, according to a police report.
The accuser was wearing a gray T-shirt and shorts covered in what appeared to be “old dark blood stains,” according to the report. When officers asked if he could describe the person who assaulted him, the man reportedly said he was a Black man and pointed at McAlpin.
Surveillance footage taken from a nearby Dollar Tree store shows McAlpin walking on the sidewalk looking at his phone as Officer Harris quickly pulls up in front of him in a police truck, blocking his path. Harris’ police lights were not on at the time. McAlpin’s partner later told officers they were video-chatting and using sign language when police tried to stop McAlpin.
Surveillance footage taken from Tyron McAlpin's police incident report, shared by the Robbins Curtin Millea & Showalter law firm.
“Hey buddy, stop where you’re at,” Harris said while still inside the truck, seconds before coming out and grabbing McAlpin with both hands, according to body camera footage reviewed by HuffPost.
Showalter said it’s unclear whether anybody could have heard the officer’s command from inside the police truck.
In his police report, Harris wrote that McAlpin “took a fighting stance” and “engaged in active aggression by swinging punches” at Harris’ head.
“He was not simply assaulting me in order to get away, but engaging in assaults to cause me harm and injury,” Harris wrote.
Showalter told HuffPost that police tactics such as those Harris used on McAlpin during the stop only escalate the situation. He added there was no way for McAlpin to respond that wouldn’t have resulted in officers claiming more force was justified, describing the situation as “a pop quiz that nobody can pass.”
“If your hands go up, they claim that you are entering into a fighting stance. If your hands go down, they claim you’re reaching for a weapon. It’s a lose-lose proposition, and the claim that Tyrone went into a fighting stance is just outrageous,” Showalter said.
The police union did not immediately respond to HuffPost’s request for comment but said in the statement to Arizona’s Family that “at no time did Mr. McAlpin convey to [the officers] that he was hearing impaired or suffered from cerebral palsy. Our officers defended themselves against the attack of Mr. McAlpin.”
The statement added that the union was appalled by the county attorney’s decision to drop the charges against McAlpin.
But what officers described as a “fighting stance” was actually McAlpin “gesturing in surprise,” Showalter said, possibly pointing to his ears to indicate to the officers that he is deaf. Showalter added that McAlpin was ducking the punches being thrown at him. A review of Harris’ bodycam footage shows McAlpin ducking multiple times.
Officer Sue then arrived at the scene and helped Harris force McAlpin down to the ground, the video shows. Harris can be heard telling the deaf man multiple times to put his hands behind his back as both officers take hold of him.
Bodycam footage taken from Tyron McAlpin's police incident show McAlpin's partner via Robbins Curtin Millea & Showalter, LLC
McAlpin does not say a word as both officers can be seen in Harris’ bodycam video hitting him multiple times, including in the back of his head, before Harris pulls out his Taser and shocks McAlpin while he’s on the ground. McAlpin can be heard screaming while Sue continues to punch him and Harris delivers more shocks.
McAlpin’s partner arrived at the scene about three minutes after the beating began and explained to officers that McAlpin is deaf and has cerebral palsy , according to the bodycam footage . Police did not make any mention in their report of McAlpin’s disabilities.
Bodycam footage taken from Tyron McAlpin's police incident report shows McAlpin's partner arriving at the scene. The image was shared by Robbins Curtin Millea & Showalter.
“How is he deaf if he’s been on the phone,” Harris can be heard in the video asking McAlpin’s partner. She replies that they were communicating through sign language and that she had been on the phone with him since he left Circle K. She told officers that someone was bothering McAlpin at the convenience store before he left.
A black cellphone, which police claimed in their report belonged to the man who’d accused McAlpin of assault, was dropped on the ground during the beating. But, according to Showalter, the phone belonged to McAlpin, which his partner told officers at the scene, pointing to the lock screen photo of their son and showing that it was logged into McAlpin’s Facebook account. Still, he was charged with theft.
McAlpin was also charged with assault with intent, two counts of aggravated assault of an officer and resisting arrest.
Showalter told HuffPost that as of Thursday, McAlpin had still not gotten his phone back, even though the charges had been dismissed.
McAlpin’s arrest brought national attention to the necessity of training police on how to interact with people who are deaf or hearing impaired. The police union on Thursday said in its statement that officers do receive that training.
“The Phoenix Police Department provides training on how to interact with community members, victims and suspects, who are hearing impaired and/or disabled, however, we are also trained on how to defend ourselves if faced with a violent individual intent on hurting us,” the statement said.
However, during a preliminary hearing earlier this week, ABC affiliate KNXV-TV in Phoenix reported that both officers testified they don’t recall much training on how to handle people who have hearing impairments.
“That’s about seven years ago. I don’t really remember much of it,” one of the officers said.
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