Former DOJ attorney reacts to Phoenix PD’s controversial case involving a disabled man

PHOENIX (AZ Family) — While the county attorney dismissed charges against Tyron Mcalpin, a deaf man with cerebral palsy, lingering questions remain after a violent confrontation caught on Phoenix police body cam.

“Incidents like this continue to erode the trust the community has in their police department,” said Michael Gennaco, a former Justice Department attorney and expert on police oversight. “I certainly have some concerns with the way both the initial officer and the backup officer handled this situation.”

Gennaco believes the officers immediately approached the situation aggressively when they should have taken a much calmer approach.

“The officers could have learned more about the situation. In this case, it could have significantly alerted the officers that this person had a disability,” he said.

Another concern noted by Gennaco The Arizona family that’s when the officers could be seen hitting McAlpin in the head several times. He said while punches to the head are typically used to try to subdue a suspect, in the hundreds of police cases he has reviewed, they tend to escalate the situation further.

“The natural instinct or reaction of anyone who is punched in the head is to cover, to resist, at some point to fight back, to do whatever they can to prevent that infliction of pain or injury from occurring” , he said. .

Gennaco said in today’s policing world, officers should focus on de-escalation, especially at the start of an encounter. In McAlpin’s case, the video shows him getting physical within seconds.

He was also surprised that McAlpin was charged in the first place.

“I don’t know how this could have happened if the prosecutor had seen the video. I just don’t get it … as a former prosecutor I would never have filed this case,” Gennaco said.

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