Disturbing body camera video shows the moment police in Phoenix tackled a Black man who is deaf and has cerebral palsy, then repeatedly punched him in the head and shot him with a Taser.
Tyron McAlpin, 34, was leaving a convenience store when two Phoenix police officers arrived after being called to the location because a white man had been bothering staff working there.
But instead of asking McAlpin for identification, the images obtained by AZFamily shows the two white police officers beating the man they believed to be their suspect.
McAlpin was punched at least 10 by police after being thrown to the ground before being shocked four more times just as the black man left the Circle K, but it was a white man who had been bothering staff working there.
He was unable to communicate with them because he could not hear anything the officers were saying and his cerebral palsy hindered his attempts to defend himself.
Tyron McAlpin, 34, who is deaf and has cerebral palsy, was wrestled to the ground by police in Phoenix before being repeatedly punched in the head and shocked with electric shocks.
McAlpin was unable to communicate with them because he could not hear anything the officers were saying, while his cerebral palsy made his attempts to defend himself difficult.
McAlpin now faces felony charges of aggravated assault and resisting arrest.
In addition to body camera footage from Officers Ben Harris and Kyle Sue, surveillance camera footage also captured the incident from above as McAlpin appeared to be exiting the store and attempting to avoid the arriving police cruiser.
Two seconds after the officers abandoned their car, they attacked McAlpin despite having information that a man with a completely different description had been causing the disturbance at the store.
The real suspect was a white man named Derek Stevens, 33, but when an officer spoke with him, Stevens took advantage of the situation and told police the man they were looking for was McAlpin, according to the police. Atlanta Black Star.
Stevens told police he was the victim and informed them that he had been attacked by a black man who had stolen his phone.
The incident, which occurred on Aug. 19, left McAlpin facing three felonies, including two counts of aggravated assault on a police officer and one count of resisting arrest with force. The robbery charge against him was dropped.
Meanwhile, Stevens has not been charged with any crimes so far, including making a false report to police, according to the Maricopa County Court website.
Surveillance footage from above shows McAlpin leaving Circle K store
The police waste no time in tackling him to the ground and tasering him in the process.
Phoenix Police Officers Ben Harris and Officer Kyle Sue Subject to Legal Action
More footage filmed inside the store shows a third Phoenix police officer interviewing the Circle K store employees who had summoned them in the first place.
They confirmed to officers that Stevens was the one who created the disturbance, claiming someone had stolen his phone the day before.
He then lay on the ground and ignored staff instructions to leave.
The workers also explained to officers how McAlpin had been helping carry Stevens out of the store.
Security footage showed McAlpin entering the store with his phone while Stevens was inside.
McAlpin had been using his phone and communicating with his girlfriend using sign language.
She could later be heard on camera berating police officers after they wrongfully arrested him.
McAlpin could be seen leaving the store, but could not hear a police order for him to stop.
The fight with police and McAlpin occurred two seconds after officers arrived.
The real suspect was a white man named Derek Stevens, 33, seen at left, but when an officer spoke to him, Stevens took advantage of the situation and told police the man they were looking for was McAlpin.
More footage filmed inside the store shows a third Phoenix police officer interviewing the Circle K store employees who had summoned them in the first place.
“You guys arrested him for no reason,” the woman was heard saying on the body camera.
‘I’ve been on the phone with him since Circle K and you guys went in there because someone was fucking with him. And you arrested him?
‘How are you talking on the phone if he’s deaf?’ an officer asked him.
‘We use sign language!’ McAlpin’s exasperated girlfriend responds.
McAlpin has no prior arrests in Maricopa County, while Stevens has been arrested for two felonies in the past, including a criminal endangerment charge in 2017.
McAlpin’s family now plans to sue Phoenix Police.
‘The answer is easy. “He’s deaf,” said McAlpin’s attorney, Jesse Showalter. ABC15. ‘I couldn’t understand what they were doing. And he hadn’t done anything wrong.
“All I see in that video is Tyron is simply trying to avoid being hurt by these officers, and that only causes them to increase the escalation and violence that they are using.”