Body cam video released showing confrontation between law enforcement and Raleigh man
RALEIGH, NC (WTVD) -- Body and dash cam video has been released showing a confrontation between officers and a Raleigh man during an arrest back in April.
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The video shows the arrest of Kyron Hinton.
The two state troopers involved in the arrest -- Tabitha Davis and Michael Blake -- as well as Wake deputy Cameron Broadwell, have been charged with assault with a deadly weapon.
The NC NAACP responded to the video release in a news conference Wednesday afternoon.
"I don't believe the conduct coming from a law enforcement officer was conduct becoming of an officer," said the Rev. Anthony Spearman of the NC NAACP. "There was a very clear element of dehumanization and the dehumanizing element did not come from Mister Hinton."
Hinton was not present at the news conference.
In response to the video release, Raleigh Police released a statement, saying in part that "as with any situation where a citizen is injured, this matter is of great concern."
"Some say that Jim Crow is over and I'm here to tell you that it's still in our midst," Spearman said.
The grand jury indictment said Blake and Davis hit Hinton with their flashlights, causing serious injury.
It also stated that Broadwell assaulted Hinton with his hands and a police K-9, causing injury that resulted in Hinton's hospitalization.
"No one knows what Kyron has been through," said Diana Powell, of Raleigh-based Justice Served. "If law enforcement is there to protect and serve, they didn't do that that night, and for him now to process this mentally, spiritually and physically, that is a tough battle for him."
A Wake County judge ordered the law enforcement agencies last week to release the videos.
Hinton admits he was drunk and waving his hands that night, upset because he had just lost money at a sweepstakes parlor.
"I had been drinking and had a crisis that night but I didn't do anything to law enforcement and I was no threat. And, again, the video will show that," he told ABC11 last week.
The three police agencies at the scene of the arrest didn't object to the release of the dash and body camera video but asked the judge to also authorize them to release audio recordings including police radio traffic and 911 calls.
"Twenty-one bites and several cuts on his skull. The video speaks for itself. It is what lawyers call best evidence." said Portia Rochelle, of the NC NAACP. ""We are watching closely. We are staying awake nobody is sleeping on this."
An attorney for the Wake County Sheriff's Office said he hoped people would watch and listen to all the recordings before passing judgment on the actions of the officers.
"We just would ask that if you do decide to release it that we release all of it," said Paul Gessner. "If you want to ask somebody to put together a puzzle you need to give them all the pieces of the puzzle."
