Phoenix police are under fire after body camera footage was released, showing two white officers using excessive force on Tyron McAlpin, a deaf Black man with cerebral palsy. The incident occurred on August 19 outside a Circle K store in Phoenix, Arizona, where officers Benjamin Harris and Kyle Sue arrested McAlpin. He is now facing charges of resisting arrest and assault on police officers.
The officers were responding to a 911 call reporting a disturbance at the store, where the caller identified a white man causing trouble. When police arrived, the man claimed he was assaulted by McAlpin, who was walking nearby. However, the released footage raises questions about the officers' response.
According to the body camera footage, the officers approached McAlpin in a parking lot, instructing him to lie on the ground. Officer Harris claimed in the police report that McAlpin had raised his hands to punch him and was in a "fighting stance." However, the video shows Harris charging at McAlpin, who initially had his arms by his side.
As McAlpin was pinned to the ground, the officers stunned him four times and punched him over 10 times on his head and back. During the arrest, McAlpin's wife, Jessica Ulaszek, arrived and informed the officers that her husband was deaf and had cerebral palsy. Despite this, the officers continued to escalate the situation, with one responding, “No, he doesn’t need to know,” when Ulaszek asked them to inform McAlpin that she was present.
The police report failed to mention McAlpin's disabilities, despite Ulaszek's attempts to communicate with the officers.
McAlpin's attorney, Jesse Showalter, argued that his client, unable to hear or understand the officers' commands, did nothing wrong. "Everything I see in that video is Tyron just trying to avoid being harmed by these officers, and that only made them escalate the violence," Showalter told ABC15.
Civil rights groups have condemned the officers’ actions. Andre Miller, vice president of Arizona's NAACP chapter, likened the incident to historic racial injustices, calling it a "brutal assault based on false claims.” The Arizona Commission for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing expressed dismay over the handling of a disabled individual who uses American Sign Language (ASL) for communication.
The Phoenix Police Department has launched an internal investigation into the arrest, while Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell announced she would personally review the case, acknowledging the need for additional scrutiny.
This incident follows a recent Justice Department report that criticized the Phoenix Police Department for its patterns of racial discrimination and unjustified killings of civilians.
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