A Superior Court judge ordered Friday the public release of videos recorded by law enforcement officers' body-worn and dashboard cameras during the beating of a Raleigh man last month.
Judge Graham Shirley said the Wake County Sheriff's Office, the State Highway Patrol and the Raleigh Police Department must release all of their relevant videos to the media by 4 p.m. Wednesday.
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Kyron Dwain Hinton, 29, 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 on April 3 while a Wake County Sheriff's Office K-9 bit him on his right arm, side and head.
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 in the case. Broadwell also faces a charge of assault inflicting serious bodily injury.
All three officers are now on administrative duty.
"I was beaten and mauled by a dog, and I didn't commit any crimes," Hinton said Friday when asked what he thought the videos would show. "All I do know, and the video will show, is that they knew I didn't [have a gun]."
Capitol Broadcasting Company, the parent of WRAL News, and other media sought the court order for the release of police videos under a 2016 state law that restricted access to such footage.
"Seeing what public officers do and being able to look at that is inherent in an open society," attorney Mike Tadych, who represents the media companies, told the judge. "The press comes, standing in the shoes of the general public, to understand what happened here."
Tadych noted the case is the first time in 12 years that a Wake County law enforcement officer faced criminal charges related to on-duty conduct.
Blake was the only person to object to the release of the videos. A suspect in a 2016 arrest involving the trooper was beaten, and Blake's attorney, Barry Hemline, noted a "media focus" on him and disparaging comments toward Blake made by a public defender in that case.
Paul Gessner, a former judge who now serves as an attorney for the Wake County Sheriff's Office, said all of the facts need to be out in the case to ensure "an impartial, full and fair investigation."
Broadwell and others requested that all 911 calls and radio traffic between dispatchers and officers be released at the same time. The Raleigh Police Department has released all of the calls made to its 911 center and all of its radio traffic, and Gessner said the sheriff's office would do likewise.
"If you want somebody to put together a puzzle, you've got to give them all the pieces to the puzzle," he said.
The indictments allege Broadwell beat and kicked Hinton and that 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.
Broadwell defended his actions in a court document filed Thursday. He said he and others were responding to reports of a man with a gun yelling at passing cars.
"Upon being approached by law enforcement, Mr. Hinton refused to comply with lawful and reasonable commands. His refusal to comply with law enforcement's lawful commands, his threatening manner, and the report that he possessed a firearm resulted in a response by law enforcement, including Deputy Broadwell, to neutralize any and all threats to the safety of the public and the responding officers," the court filing states.
No gun was found on Hinton that night.
Broadwell also contends that Hinton was so high on drugs and alcohol that he had to be given sedatives in the back of a patrol car to halt his "violent and threatening manner" and again at WakeMed that to calm him down enough to be treated for his injuries.
Later, when law enforcement was questioning him, Hinton "apologized profusely for his actions," according to Broadwell.
"Mr. Hinton stated that he was angry on that night, acted in a threatening manner to the responding law enforcement officers, and acted inappropriately. Mr. Hinton also stated that he was extremely intoxicated," the court filing states.
Hinton doesn't deny he was on drugs and drunk that night, but both he and his supporters say he didn't deserve to be beaten and attacked by a police dog
"I was in crisis that night, but I didn't do anything to law enforcement, and I was no threat," he said. "Again, the video will show that."
"The truth is in the video. Videos do not lie," said Diana Powell, director of NC Justice Served, which works with at-risk youth and adults to keep them out of the criminal justice system. "When the public sees this, we're asking that everyone do remain calm."
Hinton was charged with disorderly conduct, resisting a public officer and assault on a law enforcement animal following his arrest, but Wake County District Attorney Lorrin Freeman dismissed those charges two weeks ago amid a State Bureau of Investigation review that led to the recent indictments against the officers.