Two Ohio officers have been charged in the death of a black man while in custody

November 2 (UPI) — Two Canton, Ohio, officers have been charged with negligent homicide in connection with the death of Frank Tyson, a 53-year-old black man who died while in custody, authorities said Saturday.

Camden Birch, 24, of Massion, Ohio, and Bo Schonegge, 24, of Canton, were indicted by a grand jury and sent to jail, Stark County District Attorney Kyle Stone said. told reporters.

“No one is above the law, and no one is so below that they don’t deserve to be protected,” Stone said of the two officers who cuffed Tyson with his knee when he went into fatal cardiac arrest. April 18 in Canton.

Video from a body camera A video released by police days after the incident showed an officer kneeing Tyson’s upper body for about 30 seconds during the fight at the veterans club. The footage shows Tyson screaming that the officers are trying to kill him while saying, “I can’t breathe.”

After he fell silent, it was more than five minutes before officers checked Tyson for a pulse and found he had none.

A preliminary autopsy report has been received Repository (Canton). ruled that Tyson’s cause of death was homicide and that her cause was a combination of acute cocaine and alcohol intoxication, obesity, cardiovascular disease and cardiopulmonary arrest.

His breathing and circulation stopped due to the physical altercation and restraint, the report said.

Police initially charged Tyson with affray, saying it was because he fled on foot after crashing his car into a utility pole while intoxicated.

His death sparked protests among African-Americans in Canton after two previous fatal incidents involving police officers in which no one was charged. Civil rights attorney Ben Crump and the Reverend Al Sharpton attended Tyson’s funeral.

“Now we know who the bad guy is, and it wasn’t Frank,” said Bobby DiCello, Tyson’s family attorney. told reporters On Saturday after the indictments were announced. “It’s official. The charge tells you who to focus on now. The narrative has changed.”

Stone “acted courageously in bringing these charges to a grand jury,” he added.

Craig Riley, president of the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge No. 2, said that while Tyson’s death was “tragic,” the timing of the charges, days before Stone’s meeting with voters at the polls, was “not coincidentally convenient.”

“By twisting the facts for political gain, they fail to address the true needs of our community and instead seek to smear those sworn to protect it,” Riley told The Repository in a statement.