CANTON, Ohio — The family of Frank Tyson and attorneys representing them held a press conference on Thursday condemning the Canton Police Department weeks and calling for justice after the 53-year-old man died in their custody.
Body-camera footage released last week showed a Canton police officer responding to a report of a crash and finding Frank by the bar in a nearby AMVETS post.
The crash on April 18 had severed a utility pole. Officer Beau Schoenegge's body-camera footage shows that after a passing motorist directed police to the bar, a woman opened the door and said: "Please get him out of here, now.” While officers were attempting to restrain him, Tyson told the officers to call the sheriff's office.
The officers restrained him — including with a knee on his back — and he immediately told officers he could not breathe. Five minutes after the body-camera footage recorded Tyson saying "I can’t breathe,” one officer asked another if Tyson had calmed down. The other replied, “He might be out.”
Tyson was taken to a hospital and pronounced dead less than an hour later. Officer Schoenegge and Camden Burch were placed on leave, according to the police department.
Attorneys Ben Crump and Bobby DiCello, along with multiple family members of Tyson, spoke at a church in Canton Thursday morning.
Crump, who is also representing Andre' Hill's family, called the Tyson's death "George Floyd 2.0." Floyd died in police custody four years ago in Minneapolis after telling officers he could not breathe while an officer placed a knee on his neck.
"How many more Black men in America [have] to tell police officers 'I can't breathe' before police actually believe these Black men fighting for their last breaths on this earth?" Crump said.
Tyson was released from prison on April 6 after serving 24 years in a kidnapping and theft case and was almost immediately declared a post-release control supervision violator for failing to report to a parole officer, according to the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction.
Crump said Tyson was framed and wrongfully convicted. He believes Tyson was scared of the Canton Police Department and that's why he told the officers to contact the sheriff's office.
"Frank's worst fear, I suspect, that they were going to frame him again and put him back in prison. But they did worse than that. They didn't just steal his liberty this time. They stole his life," Crump said.
Tyson's autopsy results have not been released yet.
Canton Police Chief John Gabbard previously released a statement extending his "deepest sympathy" to Tyson's family limited his comments due to the ongoing investigation.
When asked if Crump plans to file a lawsuit against the city of Canton, he said "We are going to explore all the legal options possible to get Tyson justice."
The Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation is handling the investigation into Tyson's death.