Newly released bodycam footage shows the moments leading up to the death of an Ohio man who told police he couldn’t breathe as they pinned him facedown on the floor of the bar.
The city of Canton, Ohio, released police footage showing the encounter between local officers and 53-year-old Frank Tyson.
On April 18, police were called to the scene of a car crash just after 8:20 p.m. Tyson’s car reportedly hit an electrical pole. When police arrived, a passing motorist told them Tyson fled to a veterans social club nearby.
When they got to the club, a woman standing near the door told the officers, “Please get him out of here, now.”
As police approached Tyson, he told them, “Get the sheriff. You ain’t killing me tonight,” before the officers grabbed him and tried to restrain him.
Bodycam footage shows Tyson struggling against the officers and crying out in distress, “They’re trying to kill me! Call the sheriff!” multiple times to bystanders. A woman yelled to Tyson that police were trying to help him.
The officers wrestled Tyson to the ground with the help of one or two club patrons.
After they lay him face down on the ground, one officer presses his knee into Tyson’s neck for several seconds as another works to handcuff his wrists.
Tyson is heard gurgling and saying, “Get off me,” and a cop yells, “Calm down!” in response.
While one officer’s knee is pressed to his neck, Tyson tells him, “I can’t breathe,” numerous times.
After they finally cuff him, the officer removes his knee. Tyson tells the cops once more that he can’t breathe and one officer responds, “You’re fine. Shut the [expletive] up.”
Police left Tyson facedown on the floor, lying motionless, for nearly six minutes as they joked with bystanders.
Finally, one officer asks his partner if Tyson has calmed down. His partner responds, “He might be out,” before the other bends down to check his pulse.
They asked him to stand up, then rolled him onto his back and started shaking and tapping him, but Tyson remained unresponsive.
Afterward, they called paramedics and started CPR. Medics arrived within 10 minutes. Tyson was pronounced dead at 9:18 p.m.
Canton police released a statement about Tyson’s death but never mentioned the time that elapsed between when the officers cuffed Tyson and when they finally administered medical aid.
“Shortly after securing him in handcuffs, Officers recognized that Tyson had become unresponsive,” the statement reads. “CPR and several doses of Narcan were administered prior to the arrival of Canton Fire Department Medics. Medics transported Mr. Tyson to Aultman Hospital, where he was pronounced deceased at 9:18 p.m.”
The Ohio Attorney General’s Bureau of Criminal Investigation (BCI) will conduct an independent investigation into the death. However, BCI agents made it clear in a statement they released on Thursday that their probe wouldn’t determine if the force officers used on Tyson was justified or warrants criminal charges.
The city released the bodycam footage for public viewing after showing it to Tyson’s family.
“As we make it through this challenging time, my goal is to be as transparent with this community as possible,” Mayor William V. Sherer II said in a statement while expressing condolences to the family. “This investigation is in the hands of BCI, and we will continue to provide them with all the required information they need to do their work. Given this is a pending investigation, we are limited on what further information we can provide.”
Tyson’s death bears a haunting resemblance to George Floyd’s murder in 2020. Floyd died after former Minneapolis cop Derek Chauvin knelt on Floyd’s neck for nine minutes. He repeatedly told police, “I can’t breathe,” during that time he was pinned to the ground.
Tyson’s niece told News 5 Cleveland that Tyson had just been released from prison after serving a 24-year sentence for kidnapping. Family members hadn’t had a chance to visit him before he died.
“He said that he didn’t want to die,” Jasmine Tyson said, the local outlet reports. “He was like, ‘call the sheriff,’ and then when they finally got him down, he said that he couldn’t breathe.”
Beau Schoenegge and Camden Burch, the officers involved in Tyson’s arrest, have been placed on administrative leave.
