By Daily Mail (U.S.) | Created at 2024-11-19 17:15:51 | Updated at 2024-11-23 16:24:05
3 days ago
A deaf man who was brutally assaulted and Tasered by police officers in Arizona had been trying to alert them of his deafness before they attacked him.
Tyron McAlpin had been walking out of a convenience store in Phoenix in August when officers were called to the scene by disturbed staff.
New body camera footage obtained by ABC15 shows McAlpin, who also has cerebral palsy, telling a medical worker what he had been doing prior to being apprehended.
Speaking through an interpreter in a hospital, he said: 'The officers took me down. I was trying to get to my ears to tell them I can't hear, pointing to my ears.
'I was trying to gesture, and that's when the cops grabbed me. [I was] trying to show, hey I can't hear, pointing to my ears, and they grabbed me.'
Two police officers were present during the hospital visit in which McAlpin said he passed out during the arrest and was having trouble seeing out of his left eye.
Other footage uncovered by the outlet has also shown that officers knew beforehand that their suspect was a man in a grey shirt and blue shorts.
Officer Ben Harris, could be heard in the video repeatedly saying the description over and over again to himself on the way to the scene.
New body camera footage obtained shows McAlpin, seen her sitting down, telling a medical worker what he had been doing prior to being apprehended
McAlpin was punched at least ten times by the two officers who wrestled him to the ground before he was tasered a further four times
After arriving the scene the man that workers had described as being the aggressor, Derek Stevens, can be seen telling Harris that McAlpin had assaulted him.
McAlpin, seen here, said he passed out during the arrest and was having trouble seeing out of his left eye.
Stevens seemingly took advantage of the situation and pointed McAlpin out across the street, saying he was responsible.
Instead of asking workers what had went down, Harris and fellow officer Kyle Sue then move in to apprehend McAlpin.
McAlpin was punched at least ten times by the two officers who wrestled him to the ground before he was tasered a further four times.
Store employees can also be seen in the new video telling officers that Stevens had got into a fight the night before.
They told police that McAlpin was a regular, and frequently held the door open for people and had to tried to help get Stevens out of the store.
Initially, McAlpin faced three felonies including two counts of aggravated assault on a police officer and one count of resisting arrest with force.
All charges have since been dropped, with attorneys speaking on behalf of McAlpin who decided not to testify against the officers.
After arriving the scene the man that workers had described as being the aggressor, Derek Stevens, seen here, can be seen telling Harris that McAlpin had assaulted him
Phoenix Police Officers Ben Harris and Officer Kyle Sue are the now subject of legal action and have both been placed on administrative leave
Stevens, meanwhile, has not been charged with any crime so far, including making a false report to police, according to the Maricopa County court website.
Harris and Sue have since been placed on administrative leave, with the incident under criminal and internal investigation.
McAlpin had been using his phone and communicating with his girlfriend using sign language.
She could later be heard on camera berating cops after they wrongfully arrested him.
'You guys arrested him for no reason,' the woman could be heard saying on the bodycam.
'I've been on the phone with him since Circle K and you guys went in there because somebody was f****** with him. And you guys arrested him?'
'How are you on the phone if he's deaf?' one officer asked her. 'We use sign language!' McAlpin's exasperated girlfriend responds.
McAlpin has no prior arrests in Maricopa County, while Stevens has been arrested on two felonies in the past, including a charge of endangerment in 2017.
