2 Ohio officers indicted in case of Black man who died while in custody

Nov. 2 (UPI) -- Two Canton, Ohio, officers have been charged with reckless homicide in connection with the April death of Frank Tyson, a 53-year-old Black man who died while being restrained, authorities announced Saturday.

Officers Camden Burch, 24, of Massillon, Ohio, and Beau Schoenegge, 24, of Canton, were each indicted by a grand jury and booked into jail, Stark County Prosecutor Kyle Stone told reporters.

"No one is above the law, and no one is so far below it that they don't deserve its protections," Stone said about the two officers, who were holding a handcuffed Tyson down with a knee when he suffered a fatal cardiac arrest on April 18 in Canton.

Bodycam video released by police in the days after the incident showed an officer placing his knee on Tyson's upper body for roughly 30 seconds during a struggle inside a veterans' club. The footage showed Tyson shouting that the officers were trying to kill him, while uttering, "I can't breathe."

After he fell silent, more than five minutes passed before the officers checked Tyson for a pulse and discovered he had none.

A preliminary autopsy report obtained by The (Canton) Repository ruled the manner of Tyson's death was homicide while its cause was a combination of acute intoxication by cocaine and alcohol, obesity, cardiovascular disease and cardiopulmonary arrest.

His breathing and blood circulation stopped due to the physical altercation and prone restraint, the report said.

Police initially blamed Tyson for the altercation, saying it happened because he fled on foot after crashing his vehicle into a utility pole while intoxicated.

His death sparked protests in Canton's Black community, coming in the wake of two previous fatal incidents involving police officers in which no one was charged. Civil rights attorney Ben Crump and the Rev. Al Sharpton attended Tyson's funeral.

"Now we know who the bad guy is, and it wasn't Frank," Tyson family attorney Bobby DiCello told reporters Saturday after the indictments were announced. "It's official. The indictment tells you who to focus on now. The narrative has changed."

Stone "acted with courage by bringing these charges to the grand jury," he added.

Craig Riley, president of Fraternal Order of Police Lodge No. 2, said that while Tyson's death was "tragic," the timing of the announcement of the charges just days before Stone faces voters in an election was "uncoincidentally convenient."

"By twisting facts for political gain, they fail to address the true needs of our community and instead seek to vilify those sworn to protect it," Riley said in a statement to The Repository.