An investigation has been launched after a black man died in police custody in the United States.
Frank Tyson died when he was arrested by police officers Beau Schoenegge and Camden Burch in Canton, Ohio, on April 18 around 8:25 p.m.
The store police The department has since released body camera footage showing officers arresting the 53-year-old man.
In the footage, Tyson repeatedly says “I can’t breathe” as the two police officers arrest and handcuff him, one of them briefly kneeling on his back.
He later falls silent, and nearly five minutes after his last words, an officer checks Mr. Tyson’s pulse, before realizing he doesn’t have one.
An ambulance would arrive later, but Mr. Tyson was already dead.
Frank Tyson before being arrested by police. Photo: AP
‘They’re trying to kill me’
Officers responded to calls of a single car accident and followed Tyson to a bar after he allegedly fled the scene.
In the video, Tyson resists arrest and is heard repeatedly shouting, “They’re trying to kill me.”
He also yells “call the sheriff” as the officers tell him to “calm down” as they arrest him.
The officers pin Mr. Tyson to the ground and one of them puts his knee on his back while telling him to “stop fighting.”
Footage shows the officer with his knee on Tyson’s back for about 30 seconds before removing it.
Tyson tells them once again that he can’t breathe before he finally goes silent.
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At around 8:29 p.m., Tyson was on the ground and footage showed officers searching his wallet for identification and talking to bystanders.
More than five minutes pass before another officer returns to the frame of the body camera footage and asks if he was breathing.
The officer checks his pulse and disappears from sight once again.
Then, at 8:37 p.m., an officer asks again if Tyson had a pulse after he did not respond.
They begin CPR until an ambulance arrives.
Both police officers have since been placed on paid leave.
Just two weeks earlier, Tyson had been released after a 24-year prison sentence, his niece told News 5 Cleveland.
She said they had planned to meet, but hadn’t gotten around to it before he died.
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In a statement on News 5 Cleveland, William Sherer II, mayor of Canton, said he met with members of Tyson’s family.
“As we move through this difficult time, my goal is to be as transparent as possible with this community,” he said. “This investigation is in the hands of BCI (Bureau of Criminal Investigations) and we will continue to provide them with all the information necessary to do their job.
“Since this is a pending investigation, we are limited in the additional information we can provide.”
Sky News has contacted the Canton Police Department for comment.
The latest incident is another death following the murder of George Floyd, another Black man in police custody whose death sparked the Black Lives Matter movement in 2020.