The 53-year-old was arrested by police in Ohio on April 18 – The video shows all the action of the police when they put handcuffs on him
An investigation has been launched into Frank Tyson, the 53-year-old man who was arrested by police on April 18 and died of suffocation while repeatedly saying the phrase “I can’t breathe”. At the same time, a video was released showing the 53-year-old saying the phrase in question.
The 53-year-old was arrested by officers Beau Sonnege and Camden Birch in Canton, Ohio, in the early evening of April 18 at approximately 8:25 p.m. local time. The local police department has released footage captured by the officers’ uniform cameras, when as Tyson says he can’t breathe, the two officers arrest and handcuff him. In fact, one of them is seen kneeling on the 53-year-old’s back for a while.
Tyson then stops talking, and nearly five minutes after he says his last words, an officer checks for a pulse and realizes he has no pulse. When the ambulance called by the police finally arrives, the man is already dead.
“They’re trying to kill me”
It all started when officers responded to a report of a car accident and followed Tyson to a bar where he allegedly went right after the incident. Tyson was arrested after a car accident in which he was involved.
In the video released to the public, he is seen resisting arrest, shouting that they are “trying to kill him”. “Call the sheriff,” he yells over and over as officers tell him to calm down as they handcuff him.
The officers tackle Tyson to the ground, with one officer putting his knee on his back as they tell him to “stop fighting.” The officer had his knee on Tyson’s back for at least 30 seconds. He tells him one more time that he can’t breathe before he finally shuts up.
At 8.29pm, Tyson is on the floor and footage from the video shows officers searching his wallet for ID and talking to other people in the bar. More than five minutes pass before another officer returns to ask if the detainee is breathing. The policeman checks his pulse and disappears from view once more. At 20:37, a police officer asks again if Tyson has a pulse, after he does not answer them. They begin CPR until an ambulance arrives.
Both officers have since been placed on paid leave. Just two weeks earlier, Tyson had been released from prison after serving a 24-year sentence, his niece told News 5 Cleveland. He said they had planned to meet – but didn’t make it.
