PHOENIX — The Phoenix Police Department retaliated against a Black man by throwing him in jail for asking basic questions about why he had been stopped, according to a new lawsuit.
“It was a mix of emotions from anxiety to confusion,” William Kitchen said. “I was just perplexed, like what just happened.”
In addition to retaliation, the federal lawsuit alleges officers continue to demonstrate that Phoenix has a longstanding pattern and practice of racial discrimination and violating people’s rights to free speech.
“He literally just asked questions, a core First Amendment activity, and got thrown in handcuffs for it,” said Josh Carden, Kitchen’s civil attorney. “[Officers] were just trying to teach him a lesson, an unconstitutional lesson.”
The Phoenix Police Department declined to comment on the lawsuit.
THE STOP
On February 6, 2024, Phoenix officers were conducting an “intensive” operation in west Phoenix where they were surveilling a man at a bus stop just south of 83rd Avenue and Camelback Road.
While watching the area, officers claimed that Kitchen ran across the street to get to the bus stop and obstructed a thoroughfare.
A team of officers swarmed the bus stop and detained and searched Kitchen.
After a few minutes, he was taken out of handcuffs.
That’s when Kitchen began asking Sgt. Meelhuysen, who was in plain clothes, questions about what was happening and why he had been stopped.
The interaction was recorded on officers’ body cameras.
[EDITOR’S NOTE: As part of his criminal case, Kitchen obtained partial footage from two officers that was intentionally blurred by officials. He provided the footage to ABC15.]
KITCHEN: What was the ARS code that you said I violated?
MEELHUYSEN: Arizona Revised Statute 13-2906A.
KITCHEN: Arizona Revised Statute 13-0926?
MEELHUYSEN: Close enough.
KITCHEN: What was it? I want to have my attorney look at it. I have Legal Shield…I just want to let know to have them look at the statute. What was the statute?
MEELHUYSEN: I just told you.
KITCHEN: Do you have your name and badge number? Can I have it please?
MEELHUYSEN: Renee [another officer], Renee. Put him back in cuffs. We’re booking him. He’s getting booked for obstructing a thoroughfare.
KITCHEN: For saying I’m going to have my attorney look at it?
MEELHUYSEN: No. Just to show you it’s a legitimate code. Seems like your incredulous about the code, sir. You’ll get educated when you have your initial appearance with the judge.
KITCHEN: It’s freedom of speech. I’m allowed to ask what I’m…
MEELHUYSEN: Yes. Freedom of speech. You’re right.
Kitchen spent a night in jail, and it took him several months to get the charges dismissed.
“That was just something that didn’t need to happen,” Kitchen said.
LARGER ISSUES, PROBLEMS
The lawsuit highlights how Phoenix has a history of discriminatory and retaliatory policing.
“And as the Department of Justice has recently reported, this behavior is a pattern and practice unfortunately typical of the Phoenix Police Department,” according to the suit. “Interim Chief Sullivan has failed to correct the pattern and practice of these violations, which directly contributed to Mr. Kitchen’s harm.”
VIDEO GUIDE: ABC15 breaks down the Department of Justice's report into Phoenix PD
One thing about the case that stands out to Carden was the officers’ use of racially-tinged statements.
In his lawsuit, he wrote that officers called the other Black man at the stop “James Brown.”
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In the body camera footage provided to ABC15, one officer can be heard referring to one of the men as “homeboy.” The video also captured an officer saying one of the men looked like DJ Jazzy Jeff.
“That’s not policing,” Carden said. “That’s poor behavior in my opinion.”
The lawsuit also alleges that officers stopped and cited Kitchen “under false pretenses.”
Here’s what officers wrote in the probable cause statement to book Kitchen into jail.
“A SOUTHBOUND VEHICLE HAD TO ABRUPTLY SLOW DOWN TO AVOID A COLLISION WITH KITCHEN. A VEHICLE DRIVING NORTHBOUND IN THE WESTBOUND TURN LANE HONKED THE HORN TO ALERT TRAFFIC AND TO ATTEMPT TO GET KITCHEN OUT OF THE ROADWAY.”
But the lawsuit claims their statement was intentionally misleading because those cars were driven by police officers.
“I think it’s to hide the fact that they have no real reasonable grounds for putting my client in handcuffs and taking him to jail,” Carden said. “They’ve got to come up with something.”
Kitchen, who is self-described as “very pro-police,” said that he tried to remain calm and de-escalate the situation with the officers.
“I’m pro-police,” he told ABC15. “I’m independent leaning conservative. And I’ve always been pro-police… You know officers put on their uniforms, and they are doing this to serve their community, you know, integrity, honor, respect.”
But he added, “These officers chose to escalate it through their actions, and I feel like I’m obligated as someone who went through that to hold them accountable.”
Contact ABC15 Chief Investigator Dave Biscobing at Dave@ABC15.com.
