Videos back police account of Aug. 28 arrest where suspect claimed brutality

Police videos show no evidence to support accusations that Akron officers brutalized a man during an Aug. 28 arrest in Akron's Highland Square neighborhood and subsequent medical treatment behind a school.

Nor do the 21 videos with 10½ hours of content from numerous officers show the man, Tyrone Brown, with a significantly bloodied shirt, after officers tased him as he tried to flee. Brown claimed in a Sept. 21 Akron Beacon Journal article that police punched, dragged and kicked him unconscious; he showed a reporter a bloodied shirt that he wore that night.

Police called Brown's claims "baseless," as was reported in the article, although it erroneously stated police had refused to release body-worn camera footage of the arrest.

The Akron Beacon Journal learned Monday that Akron released the footage Sept. 14 by email, but it landed in a reporter's spam folder and was not seen until Monday. Thus, details on the videos were not included in the Sept. 21 story under the online headline of "Police: Allegation of handcuffed man beaten by officers near I Promise School 'baseless.' "

The article included significant comments from police Capt. Dave Laughlin, a public information officer who reviewed the videos and denied any claims of officer misconduct.

Police Chief Steve Mylett gathered Cleveland-based television stations for a private press briefing Friday where he was critical of the Beacon Journal's story and the Rev. Ray Greene, who made the original accusation of police brutality during an Aug. 30 press conference. Mylett said he reached out to Greene for information on his claims and never heard back.

"I'm here to tell the Akron community that what has been reported is crap. 100 percent crap," Mylett said, according to a Fox 8 report.

"My ask and my hope is that when people are reporting things out to the public, it’s the truth and it’s accurate and I can tell you, based on the video footage that I watched of that incident that night, none of this happened,” Mylett told Fox 8.

Beacon Journal Editor Michael Shearer said the newspaper regrets its reporters were not aware the videos had been released to a reporter who made an initial inquiry, not the author of the story.

"We began reporting on this story and asked for the videos to determine if any of Mr. Greene's comments were true as the public would expect us to do," he said. "Our goal was to provide facts on these public allegations regardless of whether they were baseless or substantiated. We will review what happened and take the necessary steps to learn from this situation."

What the videos show

At around 3:38 a.m., police video shows Akron officers arriving at the scene at 800 W. Market St. after responding to a call of people fighting with guns, officers say in the video.

"People are calling, we're just trying to be cool," the officer wearing the body camera says to a crowd of people in a parking lot.

Moments later, another officer points at Brown, who is wearing a black winter hat and plain white T-shirt. The officer says, "In the beanie, in the beanie," and two other officers start to apprehend him.

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As two officers grab Brown, the crowd starts to gather around them. At that moment, another officer sprays the area with pepper spray — causing the crowd and the officers to disperse. Then, Brown runs away from officers.

At 3:42 a.m., an officer uses a Taser on Brown, causing him to fall facedown on the ground. Two officers handcuff Brown and have him sit upright before walking him to the side of a police vehicle to search his pockets. Upon removing his phone and wallet, officers place Brown in the back of a police vehicle at around 3:45 a.m.

While Brown is arrested, other body-camera footage shows more than a dozen officers trying to disperse the crowd, instructing bystanders to get into their cars and go home.

Another video shows officers discussing moving Brown and another person who was arrested to the I Promise School, 400 W. Market St., to get away from the crowd.

“We are relocating number 13 to 10’s location — 400 W. Market," the officer driving Brown tells his partner. The police code for a prisoner is 13.

The squad car with Brown arrives at 400 W. Market at around 3:57 a.m. There, a medic evaluates Brown and says the only injury he sees is one line of barbs from being tased; "otherwise he's good."

Police seek a medical check on anyone who is tased.

Footage from one Akron police bodycam then shows officers driving Brown, in handcuffs, and then being taken out of the back seat of a cruiser at the hospital around 4:05 a.m.

He stands as an officer works on the handcuffs behind Brown’s back. The Akron officer with the bodycam in his clip shines a flashlight on Brown’s back.

“It’s going to hurt a little bit more for a second until I get my key in there,” the officer using the handcuff key tells Brown.

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If Brown is talking while this is going on, the audio does not pick up anything intelligible other than the Akron officers speaking.

The video footage then shows Brown being walked into the hospital. As he walks from the cruiser, there are no apparent facial injuries. His white shirt has some bloodstains on its lower right and also up near the right armpit area.

The blood visible on the shirt while Brown is brought into the hospital is not as extensive as the stains on the shirt that Brown showed to a reporter.

As soon as Brown enters the hospital, the video images are blurred out. Brown sits in a wheelchair as he waits to be checked out by the hospital medical staff.

In his evaluation room, medical staff note a laceration on Brown's face and cuts to his hands.

Just before 5 a.m., a police officer interviews Brown inside the hospital.

"Did your face happen when you fell and hit the ground?" the officer wearing a body camera asks Brown.

He responds, telling the officer he fell on his side and was punched and kicked, but could not say how many times.

As a doctor reenters the room, the officer exits and returns a few minutes later to return Brown's personal belongings and inform him that he will receive a court date.

Akron's use of force investigation into the Aug. 28 incident is still ongoing at the shift level. Once the shift-level investigation is completed, it will be forwarded to the deputy chief for review, police spokesman Laughlin said.

Brown was issued misdemeanor citations on charges of resisting arrest, obstruction of official business and disorderly conduct.