April 27, 2024
Frank Thomas is seen telling officers he can’t breathe while yelling out, ‘They’re trying to kill me!’ before dying
Bodycam footage has revealed that police officers handcuffed a Black man in Ohio, and left him facedown on the floor as he told officers that he couldn’t breathe before he died minutes later in police custody.
The Associated Press reports that the Canton Police Department released the video of the incident that showed 53-year-old Frank Tyson being physically restrained by the police officers as he repeatedly shouted, “They’re trying to kill me! They’re trying to kill me!” He is also yelling out, “Call the sheriff!” multiple times as he struggles on the ground of a bar. As he is being cuffed, he tells the officers that he “can’t breathe” several times as one of the officers has his knee on his neck. As he lay on the ground, an officer tells him he’s fine and the video shows Tyson no longer moving. After several minutes of talking to other people in the bar, when an officer went to check on him, he then realized that Tyson was no longer breathing and several minutes later, they were seen trying to revive him. Minutes later, EMT arrives, but Tyson is seemingly dead already.
The two traffic bureau officers involved in the incident, Beau Schoenegge and Camden Burch, both white, were reportedly placed on paid administrative leave.
The footage shows police officers arriving on the scene of an accident that struck a utility pole and people instructed the officers that Tyson had gone to the bar. It allegedly happened on April 18 around 8:20 p.m. in East Canton, Ohio.
A police report issued on April 19 states that officers wrote that “shortly after securing him,” they “recognized that Tyson had become unresponsive” and that CPR was performed. They said they administered doses of Narcan before the medics arrived. Tyson was pronounced dead less than an hour later at a local hospital.
In a statement released on April 25, the Ohio Attorney General’s Bureau of Criminal Investigation said it is investigating the incident. They said that it would not determine if force was justified and that the prosecuting attorney or a grand jury would bring charges if it’s determined that the use of force was warranted.
Canton Mayor William V. Sherer II released a statement on April 24: “As we make it through this challenging time, my goal is to be as transparent with the community as possible.”
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