WEBVTT - Violent Phoenix Cops Assault Deaf Black Man Tyron McAlpin 0:00:00.960 --> 0:00:03.760 Podcasting from the Hip Hop Weekly Studios. I'd like to 0:00:03.760 --> 0:00:06.120 welcome you to another episode of Civic Cipher, where our 0:00:06.160 --> 0:00:09.760 mission is to foster allyship empathy and understanding. I am 0:00:09.760 --> 0:00:12.000 your host, Ramses job is Ramsy's job. 0:00:12.119 --> 0:00:15.480 I am q Ward. You are listening to Civic Cipher 0:00:15.920 --> 0:00:16.239 as you. 0:00:16.280 --> 0:00:20.000 Are, and this is a special episode. This is something 0:00:20.079 --> 0:00:25.079 that has been a long time coming. We've wanted to 0:00:26.040 --> 0:00:29.360 include stories that we can't get to on the radio 0:00:29.600 --> 0:00:35.120 for a long time, and the past few weeks have 0:00:35.200 --> 0:00:39.360 been crazy for us. We've been all over the country, 0:00:39.440 --> 0:00:43.520 you know, doing our best to do good work, and 0:00:44.240 --> 0:00:46.000 you know, we haven't really been able to be in 0:00:46.080 --> 0:00:51.519 the studio as much as we like. But also because 0:00:51.560 --> 0:00:55.840 of the election season, we have had a lot of 0:00:55.880 --> 0:01:01.160 our airtime dedicated to interviews and and other things, and 0:01:01.240 --> 0:01:04.400 so there are stories that historically we haven't been able 0:01:04.440 --> 0:01:06.000 to get to and we just kind of chalked it up. 0:01:06.000 --> 0:01:11.960 But now that we have this relationship with I Hearten 0:01:12.280 --> 0:01:16.920 and the capacity to podcast as often as we like, 0:01:18.160 --> 0:01:22.080 we are committing to leaving less on the cutting room floor. 0:01:22.880 --> 0:01:25.600 So today we are going to talk about a story 0:01:25.640 --> 0:01:27.720 that we've been wanting to get to for some time, 0:01:27.760 --> 0:01:29.319 and we know we won't be able to get to. 0:01:29.560 --> 0:01:33.760 On our next episode, we're going to talk about a 0:01:33.840 --> 0:01:40.360 gentleman named Tyron MacAlpin. You may have seen his apprehension 0:01:40.480 --> 0:01:45.240 and arrest on social media. The video has been circulating. 0:01:46.959 --> 0:01:52.360 It is a violent and immediate arrest for those of 0:01:52.400 --> 0:01:56.880 you who have a modicum of empathy for your fellow 0:01:56.960 --> 0:02:04.400 human beings who likely will have been appalled and disgusted 0:02:04.440 --> 0:02:07.320 by the video. But for those who have not seen it, 0:02:07.600 --> 0:02:13.200 we are definitely going to tell you about it. Our 0:02:13.240 --> 0:02:17.120 hope is that this gives you some insight into some 0:02:17.280 --> 0:02:23.240 of the things that we are trying to say on 0:02:23.440 --> 0:02:33.680 this show that might feel maybe unbelievable. I know that 0:02:33.720 --> 0:02:36.919 if you listen to this show, you have a propensity 0:02:37.000 --> 0:02:41.240 toward trying to learn, trying to believe things. But I 0:02:41.280 --> 0:02:44.240 know that some things might still be beyond your grasp 0:02:44.360 --> 0:02:49.720 or your reality. Our show deals a lot with data. 0:02:50.040 --> 0:02:58.720 Our show deals a lot with journalistically, in journalistic integrity 0:03:00.080 --> 0:03:07.800 and not simply our own opinions. However, data doesn't always 0:03:07.880 --> 0:03:15.480 tell the story. I think that today's story will indeed 0:03:15.919 --> 0:03:18.839 tell the story that the data is trying to tell. 0:03:21.840 --> 0:03:26.920 I'm going to share a bit from ABC fifteen. The 0:03:26.919 --> 0:03:30.839 writer of this article is Dave Biskobing. This comes again 0:03:30.880 --> 0:03:35.360 from Phoenix, Arizona. A black man who is deaf and 0:03:35.480 --> 0:03:39.160 has cerebral palsy is facing felony, aggravated assault, and resisting 0:03:39.240 --> 0:03:43.320 arrest charges after he was repeatedly punched and tasered by 0:03:43.360 --> 0:03:46.680 a pair of Phoenix police officers. The violent and rapid 0:03:46.760 --> 0:03:51.040 arrest of Tyrone MacAlpin raises serious questions and could serve 0:03:51.080 --> 0:03:54.640 as a test case for Phoenix and the Department of Justice, 0:03:54.680 --> 0:03:57.800 as the two battle over whether the Phoenix Police Department 0:04:00.040 --> 0:04:04.040 it's federal oversight. The violent arrests thems from a morning 0:04:04.080 --> 0:04:07.400 call from Circle K employees who reported that a white 0:04:07.480 --> 0:04:10.600 man was causing problems and wouldn't leave the store. Record 0:04:10.640 --> 0:04:15.080 show while being trespassed, the white man claimed he was 0:04:15.120 --> 0:04:18.000 assaulted by a black man and pointed across the street 0:04:18.120 --> 0:04:22.800 at McAlpin. Officers Harris and Sue took the man's claims 0:04:22.800 --> 0:04:26.240 at face value and left him to go after McAlpin. 0:04:27.000 --> 0:04:30.320 The man's assault claim was later refuted by store employees 0:04:30.360 --> 0:04:33.680 and surveillance video record show. I'm going to pause right 0:04:33.680 --> 0:04:37.080 here just to bring up to speed in cases a 0:04:37.080 --> 0:04:43.200 little hard to follow. A white man was being trespassed 0:04:43.200 --> 0:04:45.520 from a circle K. It was causing problems in a 0:04:45.520 --> 0:04:49.040 circle K. The employees wanted him gone. Police showed up. 0:04:50.040 --> 0:04:52.120 They approached the white man. The white man says, hey, 0:04:52.760 --> 0:04:56.839 I was having a problem with that black man over there, 0:04:57.360 --> 0:04:59.800 and the police say, oh, really, and then they leave 0:04:59.880 --> 0:05:02.800 him and then go to the black man. All right, 0:05:03.480 --> 0:05:08.919 let's continue. After handcuffing MacAlpin, his girlfriend arrived at the 0:05:09.000 --> 0:05:11.159 arrest and told the officers that he was deaf and 0:05:11.200 --> 0:05:14.960 had cerebral palsy. According to body camera footage, none of 0:05:15.000 --> 0:05:18.240 the officers at the scene included any information about MacAlpin's 0:05:18.279 --> 0:05:23.240 disabilities in their reports. Body camera video shows officers unexpectedly 0:05:23.240 --> 0:05:25.600 go after Macalpen, punch him in the head at least 0:05:25.680 --> 0:05:28.960 ten times, taser him four times, and wrap their arms 0:05:29.000 --> 0:05:33.400 around his neck. Phoenix police officials did not answer specific 0:05:33.480 --> 0:05:37.280 questions about the arrest, but confirmed it is under internal investigation, 0:05:37.880 --> 0:05:41.239 but Phoenix Police and Maricopa County prosecutors continued to pursue 0:05:41.279 --> 0:05:45.920 a criminal case against Macalpen. During a recent preliminary hearing, 0:05:46.080 --> 0:05:50.600 Maricopa County Superior Court Commissioner Nixconey found there was probable 0:05:50.680 --> 0:05:55.680 cause for his August nineteen, twenty twenty four arrest. Macalpen 0:05:55.800 --> 0:06:00.080 was arrested by officers Benjamin Harris and Kyle Sue, and 0:06:00.120 --> 0:06:03.279 their police reports and court testimony, the two officers stated 0:06:03.320 --> 0:06:08.320 Macwpen was going to run, took a fighting stance through 0:06:08.440 --> 0:06:14.360 repeated punches, and wouldn't comply with commands. MacAlpin's attorney said 0:06:14.360 --> 0:06:18.240 body camera video and surveillance footage showed the officer's claims 0:06:18.279 --> 0:06:21.320 are false and said there's an obvious explanation for why 0:06:21.320 --> 0:06:25.680 he couldn't comply. Quote. The answer is easy. He's deaf, 0:06:25.839 --> 0:06:28.560 he couldn't understand what they were doing, and he had 0:06:28.600 --> 0:06:32.039 done nothing wrong, Shoe Walter said. Goes on to say, 0:06:32.080 --> 0:06:35.800 everything I see in that video is tyrone just trying 0:06:35.800 --> 0:06:38.839 to avoid being harmed by these officers, and that only 0:06:38.839 --> 0:06:42.479 makes them increase the escalation and the violence they're using. 0:06:43.920 --> 0:06:46.719 The arrest happened two months after the Department of Justice 0:06:46.760 --> 0:06:50.200 released a Historic and Severe report outlining a long list 0:06:50.240 --> 0:06:56.680 of systemic failures within Phoenix Police and q's going to 0:06:56.680 --> 0:06:59.360 have a little bit more on that a little bit later. 0:06:59.600 --> 0:07:02.800 For those that do listen to the show. You may 0:07:02.839 --> 0:07:08.000 recall us doing an episode where we were discussing some 0:07:08.360 --> 0:07:12.000 insights into police departments around the country, Phoenix being one 0:07:12.000 --> 0:07:15.680 of them. Uh, you know where we don't have to 0:07:16.520 --> 0:07:20.880 provide opinions or build bridges mental bridges for you, our listener. 0:07:21.600 --> 0:07:25.240 We don't, and this is one such instance where we 0:07:25.280 --> 0:07:29.720 did that. It was a report from the Department of Justice. 0:07:29.840 --> 0:07:32.320 We took the article from the Associated Press, and we 0:07:32.880 --> 0:07:40.320 gave insight into the Phoenix Police's discriminatory policing practices, and 0:07:40.360 --> 0:07:49.760 then this story happens. So before we get there, Q, 0:07:50.080 --> 0:07:52.760 I want you to kind of talk us through what 0:07:52.800 --> 0:07:56.600 you saw when you first saw the video, because you 0:07:56.600 --> 0:08:01.280 know it reads differently than it feels. And I remember 0:08:01.480 --> 0:08:02.960 when we first saw the video and we had a 0:08:03.000 --> 0:08:06.280 conversation about it, just kind of when you talk me 0:08:06.280 --> 0:08:07.760 through it, I was like, oh my god. 0:08:09.080 --> 0:08:13.880 I think it's important to always point out that a 0:08:14.000 --> 0:08:21.920 crime being committed should not render you being assaulted by 0:08:22.000 --> 0:08:29.200 law enforcement. And we know that's how they feel as well, 0:08:30.360 --> 0:08:36.720 because we have seen multiple now white male mass shooters 0:08:37.160 --> 0:08:41.480 not only safely apprehended with no violence at all, but 0:08:41.520 --> 0:08:46.000 treated with dignity and respect and even care by law 0:08:46.080 --> 0:08:50.040 enforcement officers after their arrest. Are you okay? Are you thirsty? 0:08:50.120 --> 0:08:54.480 Are you hungry? Let's get you something to eat. So 0:08:54.880 --> 0:08:58.360 what I saw in the video, with no context, not 0:08:58.400 --> 0:09:01.800 having read anything, was a black man walking down the 0:09:01.840 --> 0:09:04.280 street or through a parking lot it's hard to tell 0:09:04.280 --> 0:09:08.760 from the angle of the camera, a police vehicle swerving 0:09:08.800 --> 0:09:12.880 in front of him, him noticing, okay, a vehicle is 0:09:12.920 --> 0:09:15.000 in front of me now, and trying to walk to 0:09:15.120 --> 0:09:19.400 avoid walking into this vehicle that seemed to very intentionally 0:09:19.440 --> 0:09:24.400 cut him off, and an officer exiting the vehicle to 0:09:24.640 --> 0:09:31.440 beat him up. The vehicle's door opened, the officer jumps 0:09:31.480 --> 0:09:34.240 out of the vehicle and attacks the man. There is 0:09:34.280 --> 0:09:39.680 no in between the door opens, he attacks him, and 0:09:39.840 --> 0:09:44.360 a man who looks like someone being attacked, trying to 0:09:44.440 --> 0:09:48.439 prevent himself from being struck, trying to break his fall, 0:09:48.559 --> 0:09:52.240 and then trying to stop his face from being smashed 0:09:52.240 --> 0:09:58.680 into the pavement. Another officer arrives and joins in on 0:09:58.760 --> 0:10:03.960 the fight. So you get to watch two officers beat 0:10:04.000 --> 0:10:06.880 a man up, chase him, and beat him up some more. 0:10:07.840 --> 0:10:09.400 That's what the video shows. 0:10:11.240 --> 0:10:16.240 Now, when we talk about videos like this, we don't 0:10:16.280 --> 0:10:20.920 talk about them so that you can know every single 0:10:21.679 --> 0:10:26.800 individual instance of police violence in the country. What we 0:10:26.920 --> 0:10:29.960 do is we try to give you insight into what 0:10:30.080 --> 0:10:33.480 police violence looks like and the and the implifica, the 0:10:33.600 --> 0:10:38.560 implications and ramifications sorry of police violence and how it 0:10:38.640 --> 0:10:43.760 shapes outcomes for black people in this country. But as 0:10:43.800 --> 0:10:46.960 often as we can, we point this back to the data, 0:10:47.280 --> 0:10:52.640 to the prevalence of how this disproportionately happens to black 0:10:52.640 --> 0:10:57.600 and brown people and less so to white people. We 0:10:57.679 --> 0:11:02.160 continue to make our case that we are dealing with 0:11:02.200 --> 0:11:06.800 a different set of circumstances that affect us differently. I'm 0:11:06.800 --> 0:11:09.920 not talking about ramses, I'm not talking about que I'm 0:11:09.920 --> 0:11:23.040 talking about our people. And this interaction gives full insight 0:11:23.760 --> 0:11:26.880 into what it must be like to be a black 0:11:26.920 --> 0:11:38.440 person living in most every city with a police department. 0:11:41.840 --> 0:11:46.680 This gives insight into why we have a deep seated 0:11:47.000 --> 0:11:56.840 distrust borderline fear of police. This gives insight into why 0:11:59.720 --> 0:12:08.880 the strained relationship between black communities and police departments is 0:12:10.160 --> 0:12:18.439 hard to repair. And the truth is this just gives 0:12:18.559 --> 0:12:23.319 insight into our reality. Now again, I'm not speaking as 0:12:23.360 --> 0:12:25.960 an individual in this moment. I could I can tell 0:12:25.960 --> 0:12:29.440 you my own stories of my own police interactions. I've 0:12:29.480 --> 0:12:37.240 done it on this show many times. But imagine you're 0:12:37.280 --> 0:12:41.400 walking as Q mentioned a police it was a police 0:12:41.440 --> 0:12:43.400 truck for those that want to check out the video, 0:12:43.679 --> 0:12:47.480 pulls in front of you into almost into a parking spot. 0:12:48.400 --> 0:12:51.320 The ready assumption for me, Ramses would be, well, he's 0:12:51.320 --> 0:12:53.560 pulling up here, he's obviously got to run into the circle. Ka. 0:12:53.960 --> 0:12:56.760 That has nothing to do with me or into whatever story. 0:12:56.840 --> 0:13:00.880 That original location was a circle, was not a circle car. 0:13:01.200 --> 0:13:02.920 So he's but he's a parking lot, it looks like. 0:13:03.200 --> 0:13:06.240 So he pulls in and nearly into a parking spot, 0:13:06.400 --> 0:13:08.840 so clearly he's going in there to figure something out, 0:13:08.840 --> 0:13:11.200 and he's in a rush. Let me not get in 0:13:11.240 --> 0:13:15.560 his way. As soon as the door opens, you couldn't 0:13:15.600 --> 0:13:18.240 count it two. As soon as the door opens, that 0:13:18.280 --> 0:13:23.400 officer was barreling toward him. And what do you do 0:13:25.480 --> 0:13:32.679 when someone is running towards you. You instinctively put your 0:13:32.720 --> 0:13:38.320 hands up. Okay, this is an instinct. This isn't resisting arrest, 0:13:38.440 --> 0:13:42.600 this isn't complying, This isn't you know he was trying 0:13:42.640 --> 0:13:45.480 to fight me. This isn't anything like that, anything with 0:13:45.559 --> 0:13:50.320 a nervous system will either fight or flight or prepare 0:13:51.960 --> 0:13:56.640 to be overwhelmed. I mean, if a car is barreling 0:13:56.640 --> 0:13:58.560 towards you, if someone is on a bike and they're 0:13:58.600 --> 0:14:00.560 riding towards you, you're going to put your hands up 0:14:00.600 --> 0:14:05.480 to kind of brace yourself. And this is almost what 0:14:06.040 --> 0:14:09.880 Tyron was able to do. But we'll find out later 0:14:09.920 --> 0:14:13.440 that the police are actually using that against him to 0:14:13.720 --> 0:14:19.680 justify their assault of him. And that's what gives the 0:14:19.800 --> 0:14:24.080 judge what the judge needs to say, Well, there's enough 0:14:24.080 --> 0:14:30.920 here to prosecute Tyron. So the officer, as Q mentioned, 0:14:31.000 --> 0:14:34.280 jumps out. Two seconds later, it's a full on beat down. 0:14:35.080 --> 0:14:38.720 The officers are kneeling on him. Comply, stop resisting, put 0:14:38.720 --> 0:14:41.960 your hands behind your back, and he can't. You know, 0:14:42.040 --> 0:14:47.320 that nervous system will cause you to maybe cover your 0:14:47.360 --> 0:14:49.480 face or whatever. This isn't what happening in the video, 0:14:49.520 --> 0:14:52.320 but you understand what I'm trying to say. But also 0:14:54.560 --> 0:14:59.320 he can't hear. And the officers didn't take a moment 0:14:59.480 --> 0:15:04.320 to extend a modicum of grace to this human being 0:15:06.280 --> 0:15:09.360 as he was walking down the street. He took they 0:15:09.360 --> 0:15:12.320 took the word of a white guy that was lying 0:15:15.600 --> 0:15:18.440 ran up and beat him up in a parking lot. 0:15:19.000 --> 0:15:21.560 And now the judge says that the guy that got 0:15:21.560 --> 0:15:23.800 beat up in the parking lot, they didn't do anything wrong. 0:15:25.680 --> 0:15:31.000 There's there's enough evidence for the case to proceed that 0:15:31.080 --> 0:15:34.120 he assaulted the officers and that he was guilty of 0:15:34.160 --> 0:15:37.280 resisting arrest. Again he can't hear. 0:15:39.920 --> 0:15:44.120 And again was being arrested for something that did not happen. 0:15:44.200 --> 0:15:53.640 Yeah, so I think that we should take a moment 0:15:54.160 --> 0:16:02.280 and talk numbers, talk findings, talk fact, talk journalism so 0:16:02.320 --> 0:16:06.200 that this doesn't just feel like Qwan Rams' opinion on this. 0:16:07.400 --> 0:16:09.240 So what we're going to do is share a little 0:16:09.280 --> 0:16:13.280 bit from of our notes from an older episode, and 0:16:13.360 --> 0:16:15.840 we employee to go check that out. I believe it 0:16:15.920 --> 0:16:21.200 was maybe early August when we did this one, but 0:16:23.240 --> 0:16:25.120 we do have our notes from that and this is 0:16:25.120 --> 0:16:27.600 indeed about the same police department we're discussing today, the 0:16:27.600 --> 0:16:30.600 Phoenix Police Department and the Department of Justice's findings. Go ahead. 0:16:30.640 --> 0:16:33.560 Q There's been noted that the Phoenix Police Department has 0:16:33.640 --> 0:16:40.640 been under investigation by the United States Justice Department, essentially 0:16:40.720 --> 0:16:45.640 under the suspicion of civil rights violations. This is no 0:16:45.720 --> 0:16:48.520 longer a suspicion. This has been confirmed. This from the 0:16:48.560 --> 0:16:53.800 Associated Press. Phoenix police discriminate against black, Hispanic and Native 0:16:53.800 --> 0:16:58.120 American people, unlawfully detain homeless people, and use excessive force, 0:16:58.920 --> 0:17:04.600 including justified deadly force, according to a sweeping federal civil 0:17:04.680 --> 0:17:08.639 rights investigation of law enforcement in the nation's fifth largest city. 0:17:09.280 --> 0:17:13.600 These are findings facts statements from the United States Justice Department. 0:17:14.840 --> 0:17:18.639 Report release says that investigators found stark racial disparities in 0:17:18.680 --> 0:17:25.359 how officers in Phoenix enforce certain laws, including low level 0:17:25.440 --> 0:17:30.119 drug and traffic offenses. Investigators found that Phoenix officers shoot 0:17:30.160 --> 0:17:34.480 at people who do not pose an inherent threat, fire 0:17:34.480 --> 0:17:39.639 their weapons after threats have been eliminated, and routinely delay 0:17:39.720 --> 0:17:49.159 medical care for people injured in encounters with officers. I 0:17:49.160 --> 0:17:52.640 think some people that listen to our show, I think 0:17:52.680 --> 0:17:55.399 some people in general, and I don't. I'm saying I 0:17:55.440 --> 0:17:58.080 think this like it's an opinion. No. I've heard people 0:17:58.200 --> 0:18:02.960 say that black peace people have a victim mentality, that 0:18:03.040 --> 0:18:06.280 we race bait, that we create this victim narrative where 0:18:06.280 --> 0:18:10.439 we're somehow always under the boot. This is not something 0:18:10.480 --> 0:18:13.280 that we have created. Again, these are statistics. And information 0:18:13.359 --> 0:18:18.359 from the United States Justice Department, not the NAACP, not 0:18:18.520 --> 0:18:23.440 RAMSI's JA, not any legacy civil rights organization that's sole 0:18:23.560 --> 0:18:29.919 purposes to highlight wrongdoings done to black people. These are 0:18:30.080 --> 0:18:33.840 findings that we now know are fact. I gave you 0:18:33.880 --> 0:18:37.280 some statements. Let me give you some numbers. Black people 0:18:37.320 --> 0:18:39.119 in the city of Phoenix are three and a half 0:18:39.160 --> 0:18:42.359 times more likely than white people, for example, to be 0:18:42.400 --> 0:18:48.960 cited or arrested for not signaling before turning Hispanic drivers 0:18:48.960 --> 0:18:51.560 more than fifty percent more likely than white drivers to 0:18:51.600 --> 0:18:56.200 be cited or arrested for speeding near school zones. Native 0:18:56.240 --> 0:18:59.520 American people are forty four times and to drive that 0:18:59.640 --> 0:19:05.000 home even further a still equivalent to four hundred percent 0:19:05.080 --> 0:19:10.560 more likely than white people on a per capital basis 0:19:10.600 --> 0:19:18.520 to be cited or arrested for possessing and consuming alcohol. 0:19:22.440 --> 0:19:30.320 Officers investigating drug related offenses stated to twenty seven percent 0:19:30.440 --> 0:19:33.600 more likely to release a white person within thirty minutes 0:19:33.920 --> 0:19:38.560 or less. Native Americans accused of the same offenses were 0:19:38.560 --> 0:19:43.480 detained longer. Native Americans were fourteen percent more likely to 0:19:43.520 --> 0:19:50.840 be booked for trespass, while officers release white people accused 0:19:52.560 --> 0:20:02.639 of the same offense. I truly wish that people would 0:20:02.680 --> 0:20:13.399 adopt a position of ignorance or naivete instead of wrongfully assuming, 0:20:14.920 --> 0:20:21.040 even asserting what they perceived to be instances of non compliance. 0:20:23.240 --> 0:20:26.600 He would have just listened to the officers. Everything would 0:20:26.600 --> 0:20:32.239 have been okay. These are not our opinions, This is 0:20:32.280 --> 0:20:36.360 not how we feel. This is what is actually happening. 0:20:36.760 --> 0:20:41.240 And police are so emboldened and get to operate with 0:20:41.480 --> 0:20:46.840 such impunity that, while being investigated by the United States 0:20:46.880 --> 0:20:52.800 and found guilty of civil rights violations without hesitation, these officers, 0:20:53.560 --> 0:20:58.480 at the pointed finger of a guilty white man, pursued, assaulted, 0:20:58.520 --> 0:21:02.520 beat up, arrested a deaf black man with cerebral palsy 0:21:02.560 --> 0:21:06.679 who had done nothing except be in close proximity to 0:21:06.800 --> 0:21:09.560 a white man who felt like accusing a black man 0:21:09.600 --> 0:21:12.360 of something and new that he could weaponize the police 0:21:12.720 --> 0:21:16.600 against that man, freeing himself of any wrongdoing that he 0:21:16.760 --> 0:21:22.560 actually did do. Well, Sir, this is America, and this 0:21:22.640 --> 0:21:25.680 is the city of Phoenix, Arizona, where we currently reside. 0:21:27.720 --> 0:21:32.840 There's a reason why our hearts beat faster when encountering 0:21:32.880 --> 0:21:38.320 police in regular, everyday traffic. Is not because we are 0:21:38.359 --> 0:21:44.560 inherently dangerous or inherently criminal. Our genes and chromosomes, as 0:21:44.560 --> 0:21:49.040 our former president has said recently, do not make us 0:21:49.040 --> 0:21:56.800 more inept, more prone to, or more by the nature 0:21:57.560 --> 0:22:05.280 of our ethnicity criminal. But they have found a way 0:22:05.320 --> 0:22:09.359 to take black and brown skin and make that the 0:22:09.440 --> 0:22:15.440 crime you've committed. So all it takes is not even 0:22:15.480 --> 0:22:20.639 an afraid white person, a white person who's in trouble 0:22:20.720 --> 0:22:24.400 for having done something to point to you black man, 0:22:24.440 --> 0:22:28.800 who have done nothing at all, get you assaulted, taste 0:22:28.880 --> 0:22:32.520 and arrested. And then the video showing all of this 0:22:32.680 --> 0:22:35.359 goes before a judge in court, and that judge says, yes, 0:22:36.720 --> 0:22:40.119 that was a rightful arrest and there is probable cause 0:22:40.160 --> 0:22:43.560 to pursue an investigation into a criminal charge. Now for 0:22:43.720 --> 0:22:46.200 the black victim of this crime, now, let's talk about 0:22:46.200 --> 0:22:48.200 that because the police. 0:22:47.920 --> 0:22:52.000 Report, they lied on the police report, of course they did. 0:22:52.560 --> 0:22:55.320 They said that he adopted a fighting stance and all 0:22:55.400 --> 0:22:57.720 that stuff. And you know, please watch the video. You'll 0:22:57.760 --> 0:23:00.160 see that there is no fighting stance. But the police, 0:23:00.600 --> 0:23:02.960 we're on the stand making a case that he did. 0:23:03.920 --> 0:23:06.280 The best that he did was you could see his 0:23:06.480 --> 0:23:09.600 body sort of clench as though he was going to 0:23:09.600 --> 0:23:15.240 be tackled because the officer was already running at him, parked, 0:23:15.240 --> 0:23:18.239 the truck started running at him, didn't walk, didn't hey, man, 0:23:18.280 --> 0:23:21.200 can I talk to you for none of that? Running 0:23:21.320 --> 0:23:29.320 out of the door, the door flung open. The officer 0:23:29.400 --> 0:23:40.880 said that he bit them, and they tried to show 0:23:41.000 --> 0:23:46.840 a mark on the officer's arm, and the mark was 0:23:46.880 --> 0:23:51.120 more consistent with as the officer was trying to put 0:23:51.160 --> 0:23:57.120 him in the chokehold, he scraped his arm on Tyrone's teeth. 0:23:58.160 --> 0:24:01.560 Or maybe the ground, whether they were him on pavement. 0:24:02.280 --> 0:24:05.960 This man, this, this was not a fight. There was 0:24:06.040 --> 0:24:08.320 no fight. Watch the video. It's not a fight at all. 0:24:11.920 --> 0:24:16.600 And so and the officers are lying very very clearly, but. 0:24:16.560 --> 0:24:18.920 They get to lie straight faced while the video of 0:24:18.960 --> 0:24:21.399 them assaulting him is playing in court in front of everyone, 0:24:21.480 --> 0:24:22.800 and the judge says, yep. 0:24:24.320 --> 0:24:27.320 So when we black folks say, hey, this criminal justice 0:24:27.320 --> 0:24:31.240 system is stacked against us. When we say hey, you know, 0:24:31.359 --> 0:24:36.080 we can be innocent of anything, and the criminal justice 0:24:36.119 --> 0:24:41.080 system in this country can ruin our life, and other 0:24:41.119 --> 0:24:44.119 people say, well, I mean, just comply, just keep your 0:24:44.160 --> 0:24:50.000 nose clean, and we don't literally don't have to do 0:24:50.000 --> 0:24:56.520 anything and die it's dangerous, and even if it doesn't 0:24:56.560 --> 0:24:59.560 affect us individually, it affects our community, affects our fathers, 0:24:59.560 --> 0:25:03.479 our brothers, it affects our fiscal prospects. It affects so much. 0:25:03.520 --> 0:25:06.800 There's a ripple effect to this. And this is not 0:25:06.880 --> 0:25:14.359 the only battle we're fighting. But the toughest part is 0:25:15.400 --> 0:25:19.800 being black and living your truth in the middle of 0:25:19.840 --> 0:25:27.840 a country that blindly enthusiastically supports the police, even when 0:25:27.880 --> 0:25:32.239 they know that they're lying. They give the police the 0:25:32.280 --> 0:25:36.680 best possible optics all the time. The reason that there 0:25:36.720 --> 0:25:40.159 is a modicum of plausible deniability is because they know 0:25:40.720 --> 0:25:45.560 that the people will accept it. The people will take that, 0:25:45.880 --> 0:25:53.399 but society at large, so watch this. Our feeling often 0:25:53.520 --> 0:26:00.240 enough is that police consequences is an oxymoron. There's a 0:26:00.280 --> 0:26:04.080 lot about police that is an oxymoron. Why is it 0:26:04.600 --> 0:26:09.560 that we call the police brave when they're always scared 0:26:10.160 --> 0:26:15.560 of nothing? Watch the testimony. The officer says, well, he 0:26:16.160 --> 0:26:20.000 put his hands up, and I assumed that that was 0:26:20.040 --> 0:26:24.720 a fighting stance, and I feared that he was going 0:26:24.760 --> 0:26:29.000 to strike me, so I pummeled him into the ground. 0:26:29.440 --> 0:26:32.480 Yeah, I also often run toward things. I'm afraid of you. 0:26:32.480 --> 0:26:34.440 See what I'm saying, I can express my bravery. 0:26:35.400 --> 0:26:37.480 So how is it that again, oxymon? How are you 0:26:37.520 --> 0:26:40.240 brave and scared at the same time? Like, I don't 0:26:40.240 --> 0:26:41.879 get it. But you know the only reason that they 0:26:41.880 --> 0:26:47.040 can keep that brave thing going perpetually is because we 0:26:47.160 --> 0:26:57.320 have this obsession with violence, and the police feed that 0:26:57.359 --> 0:27:06.080 obsession using black and bodies often enough. But let's talk 0:27:06.080 --> 0:27:08.840 about police consequences because that's the oxymoron I wanted to 0:27:08.880 --> 0:27:11.960 talk to. I'm gonna get back to this article. Both 0:27:12.000 --> 0:27:15.080 Harris and Sue were called to testify during a preliminary 0:27:15.080 --> 0:27:18.159 hearing on October first, twenty twenty four. Harris testified that 0:27:18.200 --> 0:27:22.080 he immediately went heads on with macalpen within a second. 0:27:22.840 --> 0:27:25.080 Thought it was two seconds. There's only one second because 0:27:25.119 --> 0:27:28.320 he believed he was going to run and was going 0:27:28.359 --> 0:27:28.720 to fight. 0:27:28.920 --> 0:27:30.960 Was he going to run or was he going to fight? 0:27:31.640 --> 0:27:33.280 You believed he was going to do both. 0:27:34.920 --> 0:27:36.560 I read it. I read it the same as you. 0:27:36.760 --> 0:27:41.879 That's what it says, Quote, he raised his hands in 0:27:41.920 --> 0:27:45.640 a manner that he was going to strike me. Unquote, 0:27:45.840 --> 0:27:49.760 Harris said during cross examination. Quote what that communicated to 0:27:49.800 --> 0:27:53.160 me is that I was about to get assaulted and 0:27:53.240 --> 0:27:56.919 that someone was giving up, not sorry, not that someone 0:27:57.000 --> 0:28:02.240 was giving up unquote. Harris also testified he didn't know 0:28:02.280 --> 0:28:05.080 if it was possible that Macalpen raised his hands to 0:28:05.119 --> 0:28:09.000 protect himself from Harris's sudden punches. In response to a 0:28:09.080 --> 0:28:12.119 question from the prosecution, Harris said everything could have been 0:28:12.160 --> 0:28:16.480 avoided if Macalpen had just indicated he was deaf. Let 0:28:16.480 --> 0:28:18.480 me go back up. How many seconds was that? Cue? 0:28:18.480 --> 0:28:19.080 One second? 0:28:19.119 --> 0:28:22.560 Okay, let me go back down here, So the officer says, 0:28:24.040 --> 0:28:27.159 everything could have been avoided if Macalpen just indicated he 0:28:27.320 --> 0:28:32.359 was deaf within one second. Okay, there we go, all right. Quote, 0:28:32.760 --> 0:28:37.960 I would have had him sit down, made motions with 0:28:38.040 --> 0:28:40.480 my hand to have him sit down, and then I 0:28:40.480 --> 0:28:44.960 would have gotten a pin. Harris testified. As for Officer Sue, 0:28:45.040 --> 0:28:48.400 he also testified that he saw Macalpen throw punches and 0:28:48.480 --> 0:28:51.160 claimed that he was bitten on the wrist during the arrest. 0:28:52.320 --> 0:28:54.680 Officer Sue's body cam fell off at the beginning of 0:28:54.720 --> 0:28:59.240 the arrest and only shows the ground convenient when asked 0:28:59.240 --> 0:29:03.120 to pinpoint the moment on Officer Harris's body camera footage 0:29:03.120 --> 0:29:06.000 when the bite occurred, Sue stopped when the camera was 0:29:06.000 --> 0:29:10.760 pointed upward and Macalpen was not in frame. How convenient 0:29:12.160 --> 0:29:19.320 we call this lying, and this is the plausible deniability. 0:29:19.560 --> 0:29:23.080 Defense attorneys asked Sue if it was possible he scraped 0:29:23.080 --> 0:29:25.800 his wrist on the ground or MacAlpin's open mouth as 0:29:25.800 --> 0:29:29.520 they punched, choked, and tasered him, but Sue said no 0:29:29.680 --> 0:29:33.040 and denied using a choke called on MacAlpin. In a 0:29:33.040 --> 0:29:36.160 bizarre moment, to refute the defense's claim about this the 0:29:36.200 --> 0:29:38.760 cause of the scrape on Sue's wrist, the prosecution asked 0:29:38.800 --> 0:29:41.040 him to stick his hand in his mouth and rub 0:29:41.080 --> 0:29:45.640 it on his teeth. When Commissioner Secone ruled he had 0:29:45.640 --> 0:29:48.840 found probable cause for the felony charges to move forward, 0:29:49.040 --> 0:29:55.680 he did not give an explanation. So we can talk 0:29:55.720 --> 0:29:59.440 around this all we want, but what we really want 0:29:59.480 --> 0:30:01.680 you to do, if you haven't done so yet, is 0:30:01.720 --> 0:30:07.240 watch this video. Whatever it is you need to do 0:30:07.360 --> 0:30:11.760 to put yourself in that position, but not just what 0:30:11.800 --> 0:30:17.320