Two white police officers in Canton, Ohio, appeared in court Monday after they were charged with reckless manslaughter in the death of a Black man who was pinned and handcuffed face down.
During the arrest, in April, the man, Frank E. Tyson, repeatedly said he could not breathe, but the police waited about seven minutes before moving Mr. Tyson onto his side, according to body camera video.
The family of Mr. Tyson, 53, had hoped for more severe charges in the case. “It’s not the win that we was looking for,” Mr. Tyson’s brother, John Tyson, said at a news conference on Saturday. But, he added, “We’re going to take this small win and just build upon it.”
The Stark County prosecuting attorney, Kyle L. Stone, said at a news conference that he had presented witnesses and evidence to a grand jury and then “left the room.” The grand jury selected the charge, a third-degree felony that carries a sentence of up to three years in prison, he said.
The indicted officers, Beau Schoenegge and Camden Burch, had been placed on paid administrative leave. Supporters of the Tyson family, including local chapters of the Urban League and the N.A.A.C.P., have demanded that they be fired and that the Canton Police Department adopt a de-escalation policy and a mandatory implicit bias training. They have framed the episode as part of their larger fight for racial justice in Canton.
At Monday’s hearing, Bobby DiCello, a lawyer for the Tyson family, asked that the “presence of over 50 law enforcement officers” at the courthouse not be allowed to influence the proceedings.
The judge set bond for each officer at $25,000, saying that was the standard amount for a third-degree felony in Stark County.
The officers did not enter pleas on Monday, and their lawyers did not immediately return calls for comment.
The encounter with the police occurred after Mr. Tyson crashed his car into a utility pole and entered a nearby establishment, Post 124 of American Veterans, an organization that supports service members. There, some patrons complained about his behavior and called 911. One woman told the dispatcher that Mr. Tyson had been asked to leave but refused.
Officers responding to the crash tracked him to the post. When they entered, Mr. Tyson resisted their commands, the video shows, saying, “You ain’t killing me. You ain’t killing me tonight.”
In the video, the officers force him to the ground and handcuff him, keeping him in a dangerous position known as prone restraint that is intended to be used only long enough to cuff or secure a person who is resisting. Police officers in the United States have long been trained in the dangers of leaving arrestees in a prone position for too long.
When Mr. Tyson repeatedly said he could not breathe, the video shows, one officer responded, “You’re fine.”
Mr. Tyson’s death was ruled a homicide with cardiovascular disease, cocaine and alcohol intoxication and obesity as contributing factors.
Prone restraint, which restricts the ability to breathe, is considered especially risky for people with obesity and heart disease. Its dangers became particularly well known after the death of George Floyd, who was pinned down by police officers for more than nine minutes in Minneapolis in May 2020.
The failure of the officers to turn Mr. Floyd on his side after he was restrained was a crucial aspect of the case against them.
“I think there is a better understanding of the fact that keeping someone in a prone and handcuffed position, especially with weight applied as they get him cuffed, is potentially a dangerous position,” said Michael Freeman, the chair of forensic and legal medicine at the Royal College of Physicians in London.
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