Former troopers accused of lying about use of force in Kyron Hinton arrest

A Wake County grand jury on Tuesday indicted Michael Blake, Tabithia Davis and Rodney Goswick on charges of obstruction of justice and conspiracy to obstruct justice.

Blake and Davis, who were fired by the Highway Patrol in June, were previously charged with assault with a deadly weapon inflicting serious injury and willfully failing to discharge duties.

The charges stem from the April 3 arrest of 29-year-old Kyron Dwain Hinton. Officers were responding to reports of a man with a gun yelling at passing cars near the intersection of North Raleigh Boulevard and Yonkers Road when they confronted him.

Hinton, who was unarmed, said he suffered a broken eye socket, broken nose, multiple cuts on his head, "probably 20 bite marks" and memory loss during the incident when several officers pushed him up against a patrol car and hit him while a Wake County Sheriff's Office K-9 bit him on his right arm, side and head.

Wake County Sheriff's Office Deputy Cameron Broadwell also was charged with assault with a deadly weapon inflicting serious injury, willfully failing to discharge duties and assault inflicting serious bodily injury.

Dashboard camera videos from patrol cars at the scene show Broadwell hitting Hinton as his K-9, Loki, takes Hinton to the ground.

During the ensuing scrum with several officers, one officer is seen kicking Hinton, while another can be seen punching him as he refuses to give in to law enforcement.

In the audio for several dashboard camera videos, including Broadwell's and Blake's, someone repeatedly issues an order to hit Hinton in the head.

The earlier indictments allege Broadwell and Blake beat and kicked Hinton and that Davis hit him with her flashlight.

The new indictments alleges that Blake, Davis and Goswick "knowingly provide[ed] false and misleading information and statements" during the Highway Patrol investigation of the incident.

Davis can be heard in her dashcam audio referring to "body blows" Hinton received and noted she had blood on her flashlight and her hands. She told Goswick, a sergeant who arrived at the scene a short time later, that she had hit Hinton in the head, and Blake said he had kicked Hinton in the ribs and had been the one to issue the command for Davis to hit Hinton in the head.

Goswick was then heard telling the troopers that he had reviewed video of the incident and that no use of force by them could be seen.

"Y'all three just write a statement, send it to me, and we'll put it in the folder – no use of force on our part," Goswick tells Blake, Davis and a third trooper. "The only thing y'all did was assist in holding the man down. No punches. I watched the video. Nobody threw any punches. We're good."

First Sgt. Michael Baker, a spokesman for the Highway Patrol, declined to comment on the new charges or the patrol's investigation.

The internal review that led to the firings of Blake and Davis also resulted in Goswick being placed on administrative duty in June. Baker said Wednesday that Goswick was fired on Sept. 18.

Blake's attorneys, Joe Cheshire and Hart Miles, denied that he assaulted Hinton or tried to impede the investigation.

"This prosecution is part of a dangerous trend in today’s society," Cheshire and Miles said in a statement. "Law enforcement officers have to make split-second decisions in life-threatening situations on a regular basis. To second-guess their decisions and to accuse them of criminal activity when there is no evidence of criminal intent is to recklessly disregard their years of training, experience on the job and service to the community."

"We commend the Wake County district attorney in her efforts to bring justice in what appears to be extraordinary circumstances that arise from efforts to either diminish or cover up law enforcement’s involvement in this incident," Hinton's attorney, Donald Huggins, said in an email.