Troopers, Wake deputy indicted in Raleigh man's beating
Two State Highway Patrol troopers and a Wake County deputy were indicted Tuesday in the beating of a Raleigh man last month.
Troopers Michael Blake and Tabithia Davis and Deputy Cameron Broadwell were each indicted on charges of assault with a deadly weapon inflicting serious injury and willfully failing to discharge duties. Broadwell also was indicted on a charge of assault inflicting serious bodily injury.
"I am grateful, thankful and anticipating the outcome," Kyron Dwain Hinton said upon learning of the indictments.
Hinton, 29, of 3033 Poole Road, was arrested on April 3 while walking home from a sweepstakes parlor.
According to an arrest warrant, Hinton was yelling in the roadway at North Raleigh Boulevard and Yonkers Road, implying he had a gun and pointing his hand in the air as if he had a firearm in it. The warrant states that he ignored commands to get on the ground, physically resisted officers when being handcuffed and hit a police dog on the head and face.
Hinton, who was unarmed, said he was approached by several State Highway Patrol troopers and Raleigh police officers who 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 he suffered a broken eye socket, broken nose, multiple cuts on his head, "probably 20 bite marks" and memory loss as a result of the incident.
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.
"When you see the video, all conversation ends," Hinton said, referring to footage from the body-worn cameras of the officers. "You see how quickly the DA dropped the charges against me. You see how quickly they were indicted. It speaks for itself."
Wake County District Attorney Lorrin Freeman last week dismissed charges of disorderly conduct, resisting a public officer and assault on a law enforcement animal against Hinton while the State Bureau of Investigation looked into his excessive force allegations.
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 the end of the month.
The North Carolina Police Benevolent Association was "extremely disappointed" Broadwell wasn't allowed to tell his side of the story to the grand jury.
"The actions of officers are often made in a split second during rapidly evolving circumstances in matters where the officer’s sworn duties command their presence; it is certainly within the scope of reasonable fairness and justice that the grand jury would benefit from hearing directly from the officer," the PBA said in a statement. "Of course, the district attorney controls the grand jury and apparently sees no difference in this case and any other criminal suspect."
Highway Patrol spokesman Sgt. Michael Baker said Blake and Davis were placed on administrative duty after the agency learned of Hinton's allegations, and the two troopers will remain on administrative duty until the patrol completes its own investigation of their actions.
Sheriff Donnie Harrison said Broadwell also is on administrative duty until the charges against him are resolved.
"I have full confidence in our judicial system and look forward to this being resolved in court," Harrison said in a statement.
The last time a Wake County law enforcement officer faced criminal charges connected to on-duty actions was 2006, when three deputies were charged with misdemeanor assault of a man in a Garner restaurant parking lot.
