CANTON ‒ The Canton Police Patrolmen’s Association blasted the prosecution of two officers charged in the death of Frank E. Tyson, saying the officers, their families and the community “deserved better.”
“This is not simply about two officers,” association President R. Flaherty said in a lengthy statement issued to the Canton Repository after the plea deals were announced. “It is about what message we are sending to every police officer who puts on a badge in Canton. What happens when an officer responds to a dangerous situation with what they are trained and sworn to do, and then spends years defending themselves against allegations arising from the actions of the person they were appropriately attempting to restrain?
“What message does that send to the next officer who has to make a split-second decision? And perhaps most importantly, what message does it send to the citizens who expect their police officers to respond and to protect them?”
Officers Beau Schoenegge and Camden C. Burch were indicted in November 2024 on charges of reckless homicide, a third-degree felony. They agreed to plea deals to lesser misdemeanor charges on Aug. 10, avoiding a trial that was beginning the same day in Stark County Common Pleas Court.
The officers, who have agreed to resign from the department, will be sentenced at a future date.
The officers had responded on April 18, 2024, to 911 calls about Tyson smashing a car into a telephone pole and being disruptive afterward in the private AMVETS club on Sherrick Road SE. Tyson, who had alcohol and cocaine in his system at the time and had a heart condition, fought with the officers and was taken to the ground and handcuffed.
He was left face-down on the ground with his hands cuffed behind his back for several minutes before officers realized he wasn’t breathing. He had complained that he couldn’t breathe.
After the plea deals were announced, Marion County Prosecutor Raymond A. Grogan Jr., who is serving as special prosecutor after Stark Prosecutor Kyle Stone recused his office, called the officers’ actions “unacceptable … and quite frankly, it’s criminal.”
Flaherty said city residents “have been failed by the leadership of the Stark County Prosecutor’s Office.”
He said the officers didn’t create the circumstances that led to Tyson’s death and that Tyson “had already engaged in a series of actions that threatened the lives and safety of others and would have led to criminal charges before Officers Burch and Schoenegge encountered him. Yet after two and a half years, it is these officers and their families who have paid an enormous price.”
He added: “Police officers are asked to run toward situations that most people would run away from. They are expected to make split second decisions in chaotic circumstances, often dealing with individuals who are intoxicated, impaired, combative, or unpredictable. When officers respond appropriately to those circumstances, they should not have to spend years fighting to defend themselves against a process that appears to lose sight of the objective facts surrounding the original incident.”
Flaherty said officers are not above the law.
“But accountability must be based on the complete facts, not on an outcome that ignores the circumstances officers were confronted with,” he said. “After two and a half years, this case may finally be coming to an end. But the questions surrounding how it was handled will remain.
“The citizens of Canton deserve a County Prosecutor’s Office that recognizes the difference between an officer who causes harm and an officer who responds to a dangerous situation created by someone else. Officers Burch and Schoenegge deserved better. Their families deserved better. And the citizens of Canton deserved better.”
This article originally appeared on The Repository: Canton officers charged in Frank Tyson case ‘deserved better,’ police union says
Reporting by Canton Repository / The Repository
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By Canton Repository | USA TODAY Network
