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Video of Phoenix police’s violent arrest of deaf Black man with cerebral palsy sparks outrage
Phoenix, Arizona — Police body camera video showing the Aug. 19 arrest by Phoenix police of Tyron McAlpin, a Black man who is deaf and has cerebral palsy, is sparking outrage from civil rights and disability activists.
The video shows that, immediately upon pulling up, officer Benjamin Harris jumped out of his vehicle and began punching McAlpin as officer Kyle Sue rushed over. McAlpin was punched at least 10 times and was also tased repeatedly. Sue can be heard on the video claiming McAlpin bit him and, in the police report from the incident, Harris claims McAlpin swung at him.
McAlpin now faces three felony charges for allegedly assaulting the officers and resisting arrest.
McAlpin’s civil attorney, Jesse Showalter, said the video of his client’s arrest is “really unconscionable.”
“Tyron is just trying to avoid getting hurt by an aggressive, out-of-control police officer,” Showalter said. “He can’t hear any of the commands he’s being given and the assault never lets up and the officers never do anything to de-escalate the situation.”
Police had been called to a nearby convenience store for a complaint about a White man who was loitering. That man claimed he had been assaulted and that his cell phone had been stolen. When police arrived, he pointed to McAlpin as the culprit, but McAlpin is not facing charges related to that man’s claims.
Showalter said McAlpin, “hadn’t done anything wrong, so all the force that they used is excessive, unnecessary and unreasonable.”
Andre Miller, Vice President of the Arizona State Conference NAACP, condemned McAlpin’s arrest, saying in a statement, “This brutal assault was due to the false claims of a white citizen, reminiscent of many falsehoods like Emmit Till that have claimed the lives of black citizens in America. Tyron was not a suspect in an actual crime, he had not done anything wrong, and he also has communication challenges, his assault happened seconds after the police vehicle was put in park. No true communication in this encounter was present.”
McAlpin spent 24 days in jail before making bond. He’s pleaded not guilty. The officers didn’t learn he was deaf until after the arrest and, as of Tuesday, remain on the job.
The Arizona Commission for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing said in a statement it was “disheartened by this incident. We provided POST training for officers to communicate with Deaf, Hard of Hearing, and DeafBlind Arizonans, yet these modules are not currently being used. Cultural and language knowledge and awareness is vital for the safety of all.”
The Phoenix Police Department declined a CBS News request for an interview, but said in a statement it is investigating the officers’ actions.
Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell, the county’s top prosecutor, has also promised to review the case.
“Because of the attention on this case, I will personally review the entire file, as well as the totality of the video. I may reach a different conclusion, or I may not, but I believe this case merits additional scrutiny,” Mitchell said in a statement.
Phoenix Councilman Kevin Robinson said Tuesday in a statement, “While I cannot comment on the specific details of the incident at this time, I look forward to a thorough investigation that will be conducted in a timely manner.”
The incident came just two months after a damning Department of Justice report found Phoenix police engaged in a pattern of discrimination and excessive force. The Justice Department is aware of the McAlpin arrest.
ACLU Arizona Policy Director Darrell Hill said the video showed “another devastating example of Phoenix Police Department’s racial bias and use of excessive force against people who do not pose a threat to them, including those with disabilities.”
“Extreme and disproportionate reactions like this are well documented in the Department of Justice’s investigation and report. Clearly, the report’s findings are not being taken seriously, critical changes are not being implemented by police or city leaders, and federal oversight is gravely needed.”
Showalter noted that everything seen in the video “post-dates the DOJ report. It just runs counter to everything the city of Phoenix claims that it’s doing.”
Bela Karolyi, the charismatic if polarizing gymnastics coach who turned young women into champions and the United States into an international power, has died. He was 82.
A spokesperson for USA Gymnastics confirmed to CBS News by email that Karolyi died Friday. No cause of death was given.
Karolyi and wife Martha trained multiple Olympic gold medalists and world champions in the U.S. and Romania, including Nadia Comaneci and Mary Lou Retton.
Ron Jenkins/Fort Worth Star-Telegram/Tribune News Service via Getty Images
“A big impact and influence on my life,” Comaneci, who was just 14 when Karolyi coached her to gold for Romania at the 1976 Montreal Olympics, posted on Instagram.
The Karolyis defected to the United States in 1981 and over the next 30-plus years became a guiding force in American gymnastics, though not without controversy. Bela helped guide Retton — all of 16 — to the Olympic all-around title at the 1984 Games in Los Angeles and memorably helped an injured Kerri Strug off the floor at the 1996 Games in Atlanta after Strug’s vault secured the team gold for the Americans.
Karolyi briefly became the national team coordinator for USA Gymnastics women’s elite program in 1999 and incorporated a semi-centralized system that eventually turned the Americans into the sport’s gold standard. It did not come without a cost. He was pushed out after the 2000 Olympics after several athletes spoke out about his tactics.
It would not be the last time Karolyi was accused of grandstanding and pushing his athletes too far physically and mentally.
During the height of the Larry Nassar scandal in the late 2010s — when the disgraced former USA Gymnastics team doctor was effectively given a life sentence after pleading guilty to sexually assaulting gymnasts and other athletes with his hands under the guise of medical treatment — over a dozen former gymnasts came forward saying the Karolyis were part of a system that created an oppressive culture that allowed Nassar’s behavior to run unchecked for years.
Still, some of Karolyi’s most famous students were always among his staunchest defenders. When Strug got married, she and Karolyi took a photo recreating their famous scene from the 1996 Olympics, when he carried her onto the medals podium after she vaulted on a badly sprained ankle.
Despite losing his boxing match to Jake Paul, Mike Tyson in a social media post Saturday said he had “no regrets” to getting “in ring one last time.”
The boxing legend was defeated by social media star Jake Paul in a highly anticipated fight on Friday night with an age difference of over three decades between the two contenders.
Netflix said Saturday that 60 million households worldwide tuned in to watch the match. The two fighters went eight full rounds, with each round two minutes long. Paul defeated Tyson by unanimous decision and the 27-year-old upset boxer and 58-year-old former heavyweight champion hugged afterward.
Paul was expected to earn about $40 million from the fight, and Tyson was expected to take around $20 million for the fight, according to DraftKings and other online reports.
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Tyson said on his social media that “this is one of those situations when you lost but still won. I’m grateful for last night.”
The fight almost didn’t happen after Tyson experienced an ulcer flare-up while on a plane in March. He addressed his illness Saturday, writing that he “almost died in June.” He said he had eight blood transfusions and “lost half my blood and 25lbs in hospital and had to fight to get healthy to fight so I won.”
Tyson retired from boxing in 2005 after a 20-year career. He last fought in a 2020 exhibition match against former four-division world champ Roy Jones Jr.
“To have my children see me stand toe to toe and finish 8 rounds with a talented fighter half my age in front of a packed Dallas Cowboy stadium is an experience that no man has the right to ask for. Thank you,” he said.
Alex Sundby and
contributed to this report.
In their final meeting, China’s leader Xi Jinping told U.S. President Biden that his nation was “ready to work with a new administration,” as President-elect Donald Trump prepares to take over.
The two leaders gathered Saturday on the sidelines of the annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit. Mr. Biden was expected to urge Xi to dissuade North Korea from further deepening its support for Russia’s war on Ukraine. It marked their first in-person meeting since they met in Northern California last November.
Without mentioning Trump’s name, Xi appeared to signal his concern that the incoming president’s protectionist rhetoric on the campaign trail could send the U.S.-China relationship into another valley.
“China is ready to work with a new U.S. administration to maintain communication, expand cooperation and manage differences so as to strive for a steady transition of the China-U.S. relationship for the benefit of the two peoples,” Xi said through an interpreter.
LEAH MILLIS/POOL/AFP via Getty Images
Mr. Biden, meanwhile, spoke in broader brushstrokes about where the relationship has gone and reflected not just on the past four years, but on their long relationship.
“Over the past four years, China-U.S. relations have experienced ups and downs, but with the two of us at the helm, we have also engaged in fruitful dialogues and cooperation, and generally achieved stability,” he said.
Mr. Biden and Xi, with top aides surrounding them, gathered around a long rectangle of tables in an expansive conference room at Lima’s Defines Hotel and Conference Center.
There’s much uncertainty about what lies ahead in the U.S.-China relationship under Trump, who campaigned promising to levy 60% tariffs on Chinese imports.
Bobby Djavaheri, president of Los Angeles-based Yedi Houseware Appliances — which manufactures its products in China — told CBS News in an interview this week that such tariffs “would decimate our business, but not only our business. It would decimate all small businesses that rely on importing.”
Trump has also proposed revoking China’s Most Favored Nation trade status, phasing out all imports of essential goods from China and banning China from buying U.S. farmland.
Already, many American companies, including Nike and eyewear retailer Warby Parker, have been diversifying their sourcing away from China. Shoe brand Steve Madden says it plans to cut imports from China by as much as 45% next year.
White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said Biden administration officials will advise the Trump team that managing the intense competition with Beijing will likely be the most significant foreign policy challenge they will face.
It’s a big moment for Mr. Biden as he wraps up more than 50 years in politics. He saw his relationship with Xi as among the most consequential on the international stage and put much effort into cultivating that relationship.
Mr. Biden and Xi first got to know each other on travels across the U.S. and China when both were vice presidents, interactions that both have said left a lasting impression.
“For over a decade, you and I have spent many hours together, both here and in China and in between. And I think we’ve spent a long time dealing with these issues,” Mr. Biden said Saturday.
But the last four years have presented a steady stream of difficult moments.
The FBI this week offered new details of a federal investigation into Chinese government efforts to hack into U.S. telecommunications networks. The initial findings have revealed a “broad and significant” cyberespionage campaign aimed at stealing information from Americans who work in government and politics.
U.S. intelligence officials also have assessed China has surged sales to Russia of machine tools, microelectronics and other technology that Moscow is using to produce missiles, tanks, aircraft and other weaponry for use in its war against Ukraine.
And tensions flared last year after Mr. Biden ordered the shooting down of a Chinese spy balloon that traversed the United States.
