Two Ohio police officers have been charged with the reckless homicide of a Black man who pleaded “I can’t breathe” during a police encounter, authorities announced Saturday.
County officers Camden Burch and Beau Schoenegge have been charged with reckless homicide in the April 18 death of Frank E. Tyson during a confrontation with police, Stark County Prosecutor Kyle L. Stone announced at a news conference Saturday.
Burch and Schoenegge, both 24, were booked into jail Friday and remained in custody Saturday, Cleveland NBC affiliate WKYC reported, citing inmate records.
Stone said he presented a grand jury with the results of an Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation investigation into Tyson’s death, which the agency completed in August. The grand jury approved the indictment as part of an indictment.
On the reckless homicide charge, a third-degree felony, each suspect faces up to three years in prison and a $10,000 fine, Stone said.
Representatives of state and local police organizations did not immediately respond to attempts to reach the officers or their legal counsel for comment.
In a statement to the Canton Repository, Craig M. Riley, president of the Fraternal Order of Police Ohio Labor Council Gold Unit, accused prosecutors of playing politics with the case just a few days after Tuesday’s election.
“Real progress,” he said, “comes from collaboration, investment and open communication – not from using our officers as well-timed scapegoats to score political points.”
According to the Repository, the union represents Canton police supervisors.
Canton police released Schoenegge’s body camera footage of the encounter a week later. The officers had responded to a car crash involving a downed utility pole and a witness directed them to an AMVETS lodge, where they contacted Tyson, police said.
According to the video, Tyson knocks over a bar stool, shouts a request to call the sheriff and says, “They’re trying to kill me,” as the officers try to take him into custody. He is placed on the ground and handcuffed before an officer then appears to place a knee on Tyson’s upper body for about 30 seconds.
Tyson says several times, “I can’t breathe.”
An officer tells him to cooperate and calm down. Tyson says again, “I can’t breathe. I can’t breathe,” before adding, “You’re on my neck.”
After the officer lifts his knee, Tyson is left unassisted and appears motionless for about five minutes, according to the video. An officer asks if Tyson has calmed down and if he is breathing. His pulse is then checked and officers perform chest compressions.
Tyson was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead, police said.
The preliminary autopsy report lists causes of death as cardiac arrest combined with physical altercation and compulsion, as well as acute intoxication by cocaine and ethanol.
Schoenegge and Burch, who both joined the department in 2022 and are assigned to the traffic bureau, have been placed on paid administrative leave pending an investigation.
The death resonated with echoes of the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police officers in the spring of 2020, when an officer pressed a knee to Floyd’s neck as he repeated, “I can’t breathe.”
Before that, Eric Garner died after a July 17, 2014 confrontation with New York City police officers who stopped him to investigate the possible sale of loose, untaxed cigarettes on the street. He also pleaded, “I can’t breathe,” as an officer put him in a chokehold.
Bobby DiCello, an attorney for Tyson’s family, said at a news conference after Stone addressed the news media that the charges mark progress toward justice.
“The Stark County Prosecutor acted courageously in filing an indictment with the grand jury,” he said. “This is how justice works – through acts of courage.”
John Tyson, the victim’s brother, characterized the day’s news as a step forward.
“It’s not the win we were looking for, but we will take this small win and build on it,” he said.
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
