Tyron McAlpin's lawyer requests more documents after his client was attacked by Phoenix PD officers
PHOENIX - Tyron McAlpin, the deaf disabled man who was seen being struck several times by Phoenix Police officers on body camera, is relieved the felony charges for aggravated assault against officers were dropped.
Still, it doesn't take away from the shock he's in and the confusion he has about why he was charged in the first place.
The two officers mistook McAlpin for a suspect on Aug. 19 after someone at a nearby gas station pointed them in his direction near Indian School Road and 12th Street.
They pulled up on McAlpin, got out of their car and started attacking him.
McAlpin was not only innocent of the crime they were arresting him for, but he's deaf and was unable to hear their commands.
"These officers went wrong from the moment Officer Harris got out of the car," said McAlpin's lawyer, Jesse Showalter of Robbins Curtin Millea & Showalter, LLC. "You watch the video and what you see is his arms are reaching out, and he's assaulting Tyron from the moment the encounter begins. The number of times these two officers are striking Tyron in the head is extreme and is outrageous and is something that we thought was a thing of the past."
The officers claimed McAlpin attacked them – a move his attorney says is an attempt to cover up their misconduct. McAlpin ended up spending 24 days in jail before the Maricopa County Attorney, Rachel Mitchell, reviewed the body cam video and decided to drop the charges last week.
"I think the larger problem that this points to is that in the city of Phoenix, officers are able to do this without any accountability. They’re able to do it with impunity," Showalter said.
Interim Phoenix Police Chief Michael Sullivan says the Professional Standards Bureau launched an internal investigation into this incident, adding, "Their work is important to ensure all facts are known before drawing any conclusions. I ask for the public’s patience during that process."
But, Showalter says the city of Phoenix still possesses a number of documents that he requested more than a month ago – additional video, audio recordings, and additional witness interviews – all of which he says do not help the police department’s case.
He says the department’s apparent refusal to release the information is a violation of Arizona’s Public Records Law.
"We anticipate that if we don’t receive these additional documents, there will be a public records lawsuit in the first week of November," Showalter said.
