PHOENIX — Following the violent arrest of a deaf man with cerebral palsy, leading civil rights groups and disability advocacy organizations are calling for the charges to be dropped and for Phoenix to consent to federal oversight.
Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell also responded to the public outcry by promising to personally review the case.
“Because of the attention on this case, I will personally review the entire file, as well as the totality of the video,” Mitchell said in an emailed statement. “I may reach a different conclusion or I may not, but I believe this case merits additional scrutiny.”
RELATED: Phoenix officers repeatedly punch, Taser deaf Black man with cerebral palsy
ABC15 exposed body camera and surveillance video of two Phoenix officers repeatedly punching and tasering Tyron McAlpin.
The case has garnered national and international attention.
While Phoenix city leaders have not responded to ABC15’s repeated requests for comment, the response from Arizona’s top civil and disability rights organizations has been sharp and scathing.
“Disgust is probably the best way I can say it,” said Sarah Tyree, president of the NAACP’s Arizona conference. “It’s just another stark reminder of where we are.”
After ABC15’s initial report, Tyree said the NAACP immediately requested meetings with the Phoenix Police Department, Maricopa County Attorney’s Office, and Congressman Ruben Gallego, who’s running for U.S. Senate and recently spoke out against the Department of Justice’s wish to place the city under a consent decree.
“We do not believe in (Phoenix police) policing themselves,” Tyree said.
VIDEO GUIDE: ABC15 breaks down the Department of Justice's report into Phoenix PD
In June, the DOJ released the results of its three-year investigation into Phoenix PD, which was found to have systemic problems throughout the department. The NAACP’s belief that Phoenix police need federal oversight is shared by Disability Rights Arizona, which is a protection and advocacy law firm for Arizonans with disabilities.
“The DOJ doesn’t just show up in your city,” Rico said. “They show up if there are issues. So (Phoenix) should stop fighting and actually work with them to improve their police force.”
Rico repeatedly used the word “shocked” to describe the officers’ conduct and believes the resisting arrest charges against McAlpin are criminalizing his disability.
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“The continued demands to comply and follow commands was not being heard,” he said. “So now to raise allegations that he was not complying, you have to consider the disability.”
The two officers who arrested McAlpin, Ben Harris and Kyle Sue, both testified that McAlpin was the aggressor and that he threw repeated punches at them during the arrest and bit one of them.
During a preliminary hearing, the officer also testified that they have essentially no training on how to deal with people who are deaf or hard of hearing.
“It’s shocking for such a large police department, and two officers who are a part of that, to say they have not training,” Rico said.
The Arizona Commission for the Deaf and the Hard of Hearing said the whole situation was “deeply disheartening” and “unwarranted.”
“We underscore the imperative need for greater awareness, sensitivity, and training when engaging with individuals with disabilities,” the ACDHH wrote in a statement posted online.
The commission also said they provided the state’s police training board with specific training but they recently learned those “modules are not being provided.”
ACLU Arizona joined other organizations by saying McAlpin’s arrest definitively proves that the DOJ needs to place Phoenix police under federal oversight.
“This is yet another very troubling example of Phoenix police resorting to excessive violence when interacting with people who clearly pose no threat to them,” said Jared Keenan, an ACLU attorney. “I think this shows that not only are the findings in the DOJ report not being taken seriously by officers individually, I think they’re not being taken seriously at the top levels of the Phoenix Police Department, and they’re certainly not being taken seriously by the Mayor and City Council.”
Keenan said the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office needs to drop McAlpin’s charges because they’re being used as a tool to cover up the officers’ misconduct.
“They charge the actual victim in these cases, the people who police assault, with serious crimes as a way to first draw attention away from police and to insulate them from any true accountability,” Keenan said.
ABC15 has sent repeated requests for comment to Mayor Kate Gallego and Phoenix’s eight city councilmembers.
So far, none of the elected leaders have responded.
Ahead of ABC15’s initial report, the Phoenix Police Department emailed the following statement.
“This incident is the subject of an ongoing investigation and was assigned to the Professional Standards Bureau on August 30, 2024.”
The department has not responded to follow-up questions seeking more information about its internal probe.
Contact ABC15 Chief Investigator Dave Biscobing at Dave@ABC15.com.
