In a video recently released by Ohio police, an officer is seen placing his knee on Frank Tyson’s back, at neck level, for approximately 30 seconds, while he repeated that he could not breathe. Tyson was a 53-year-old African-American man who had been flagged as a suspect in leaving the scene of a traffic accident. Although the scene occurred on April 18, the video took a while to spread.
The video was recorded by the body cameras of the city of Canton police officers and lasts 36 minutes. It begins with a patrol officer finding an abandoned car after crashing into a power pole. A passerby informs the officer that the driver of the vehicle has gone to a nearby bar.
Officers entered the establishment and located Tyson at the bar, sparking an immediate altercation. “They are trying to kill me” Tyson repeats several times. Faced with his resistance, the officers take him to the ground and handcuff him. One of them is seen placing his knee on his back, near his neck, for about 30 seconds, while Tyson tells him: “I can’t breathe.” The officer does not acknowledge receipt and simply asks him to calm down.
The video then shows Tyson face down on the ground, motionless for approximately 6 minutes, while the officers chat and joke with other people present in the bar. Finally, one of the police officers asks if Tyson has calmed down, to which another responds that he may have fainted, so the first asks him to check his breathing.
Three minutes later, the officers realize that something is wrong with Tyson, so they remove his handcuffs and begin performing CPR on him for more than 7 minutes, until paramedics arrive and transport him in an ambulance.
Tyson was taken to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead. The Police Department identified the officers as Beau Schoenegge and Camden Burch. Both have been on administrative leave as of Thursday while an investigation is conducted.
It is inevitable due to the characteristics of the event and the victim’s request, to compare Tyson’s murder with that of George Floyd in 2020. In that case the responsibility fell on the Minneapolis Police, and the officer who pressed on Floyd’s neck was finally condemned. We will see how justice unfolds in this case.
