Officers accused of beating unarmed Raleigh man believed he had a gun

Two people who called 911 last month to report a man walking in the middle of a Raleigh street told dispatchers that the man appeared to have a gun, according to recordings of the calls released Tuesday.

Posted 8:19 p.m. May 22, 2018 — Updated 6:08 p.m. Jul 13, 2018

Amanda Lamb

, WRAL reporter

RALEIGH, N.C. — Two people who called 911 last month to report a man walking in the middle of a Raleigh street told dispatchers that the man appeared to have a gun, according to recordings of the calls released Tuesday.

That information was relayed to the law enforcement officers who confronted Kyron Dwain Hinton near the intersection of North Raleigh Boulevard and Yonkers Road on April 3.

But Hinton, 29, was unarmed as he walked home from a sweepstakes parlor

He said he suffered a broken eye socket, broken nose, multiple cuts on his head, "probably 20 bite marks" and memory loss after several officers pushed him up against a patrol car and beat him up while a Wake County Sheriff's Office K-9 bit him on his right arm, side and head, he said.

Three of those officers, Wake County Deputy Cameron Broadwell and State Highway Patrol troopers Michael Blake and Tabithia Davis, were indicted last week on charges of assault with a deadly weapon inflicting serious injury and willfully failing to discharge duties. Broadwell also faces a charge of assault inflicting serious bodily injury.

Left to right, State Highway Patrol Troopers Michael Blake and Tabithia Davis and Wake County Sheriff's Office Deputy Cameron Broadwell

"He's screaming. He's pointing the gun at his wrist. He's going from side to side of the street," a caller told a 911 dispatcher. "It looks to be a silver gun. It looks like a gun."

One caller told the 911 dispatcher he wanted officers to be prepared.

"I guess just to let cops know in case it is a gun," the caller said.

The first radio dispatch to officers in the area, which went out at 10:25 p.m., notes a 10-32, which is police code for a firearm.

After the confrontation, officers repeatedly asked for urgent help, saying EMS was needed 10-39, which is police code for using emergency lights and siren.

"All units, we've got a trooper requesting emergency traffic check-in at Yonkers and Raleigh, Yonkers and Raleigh," the dispatcher says.

Two minutes later, at 10:38 p.m., an officer requests, "Can we go ahead and get a supervisor out here?"

A dog can be barking during several of the transmissions.

"I'm not sure if EMS is staging, but if they are, you can go ahead and send them," an officer says at 10:44 p.m.

Hinton was charged with disorderly conduct, resisting a public officer and assault on a law enforcement animal. Warrants stated that he implied he had a gun and ignored commands to get on the ground, physically resisted officers when being handcuffed and hit a police dog on the head and face.

Wake County District Attorney Lorrin Freeman dismissed those charges two weeks ago amid a State Bureau of Investigation review that led to last week's indictments.

The indictments allege Broadwell beat and kicked Hinton and Blake and Davis hit him with their flashlights. All three are accused of violating the Highway Patrol's and the Wake County Sheriff's Office's use-of-force policies, and Broadwell also is accused of improper handling of his K-9.

All three officers are on administrative duty.

WRAL News is seeking a court order to release footage of Hinton's encounter with law enforcement captured on officers' body-worn cameras. A hearing on the motion is set for Friday.

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