Body camera footage shows police handcuffing an Ohio man and leaving him face down on the floor of a bar to die.

TOLEDO, Ohio (AP) — An Ohio man who was left handcuffed and face down on the floor of a social club last week has died in police custody, and the officers involved have been placed on paid administrative leave.

Police body camera footage released Wednesday shows a Canton police officer responding to a report of a crash confronting East Canton resident Frank Tyson near the bar at a nearby American Veterans Affairs Corps (AMVETS) post. The scene shows the man (53) being discovered.

The accident, which occurred around 8 p.m. on April 18, resulted in a utility pole being severed. Officer Bo Schoenegge's body camera footage shows a passing motorist directing police to the bar before a woman opens the door and says, “Get me out of here right now.”

When police grabbed Tyson, he resisted being handcuffed and repeatedly said, “They're trying to kill me” and “Call the sheriff,” as he was led to the floor.

They restrained him by pressing a knee against his back, and he immediately told officers, “I can't breathe.'' A recent Associated Press investigation found that the words “I can't breathe” were ignored in other cases of deaths in police custody.

Officers told Tyson, who was lying face down with his legs crossed on the carpeted floor, “It's okay, just calm down and stop fighting.” Police joked with bystanders and searched Tyson's wallet before realizing he was in a medical crisis.

Five minutes after Tyson was recorded on body camera footage saying, “I can't breathe,” one of the officers asked another if Tyson had calmed down, and the other responded, “He's out.” Maybe,” he replied.

Tyson's telling police officers that he “couldn't breathe” echoes what happened before George Floyd's death at the hands of Minneapolis police in 2020. The coroner's office said Tyson was black. Both Schoenegge and Camden Birch, the Canton Police Traffic Bureau officers who were placed on leave, are white, according to the police department.

When the officer told Tyson to stand and tried to roll him over, Tyson did not move. They shook him and checked his pulse.

After several minutes, officers said medical personnel had to “step up” because Tyson was unresponsive and they weren't sure if they could feel a pulse. The police officer began CPR.

A Canton police report into Tyson's death released Friday said that “immediately after securing Tyson,” officers “noticed that Tyson was unresponsive” and CPR was performed. has been done. Narcan was also administered before doctors arrived. Tyson was pronounced dead at the hospital less than an hour later.

Harry Campbell, chief investigator with the Stark County Coroner's Office, announced Thursday that an autopsy was performed earlier in the week and Tyson's body was released to a funeral home.

His niece, Jasmine Tyson, called the video “nonsense” in an interview with Cleveland's WEWS-TV. “It seemed like forever when they finally tested him,” Jasmine Tyson said.

Frank Tyson was released from state prison on April 6 after serving 24 years for kidnapping and theft, but was almost immediately accused of failing to report to parole officials after his release, according to the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction. He was declared a violation of management supervision. .

Reached by phone Thursday, Tyson's family declined immediate comment.

The Ohio Attorney General's Division of Criminal Investigation said in a statement Thursday that the investigation will not determine whether the use of force was justified, and that prosecuting attorneys or a grand jury will determine whether charges related to the use of force are justified. .

Canton Mayor William V. Scherer II said he offered his condolences directly to Frank Tyson's family.

“As we move through this difficult time, my goal is to be as transparent as possible with the community,” Scherer said in a statement released Wednesday.

Since the mid-1990s, the U.S. Department of Justice has warned officers to roll suspects onto their stomachs as soon as they are handcuffed due to the risk of positional asphyxiation.

Many law enforcement experts agree that having your chest compressed for too long or carrying too much weight can compress your lungs and put strain on your heart, which can cause you to stop breathing. . However, when done properly, placing a person prone is not inherently life-threatening.

An Associated Press-led investigation published in March found that over a 10-year period, more than 1,000 people died as a result of police using non-lethal measures, such as face-down restraints.

https://www.nbc4i.com/news/state-news/body-cam-footage-shows-police-left-an-ohio-man-handcuffed-and-facedown-on-a-bar-floor-before-he-died/ Body camera footage shows police handcuffing an Ohio man and leaving him face down on the floor of a bar to die.