Wake deputy charged with assault in K9 attack on Kyron Hinton goes to trial
On Monday, the trial begins for Cameron Broadwell, the Wake County sheriff’s deputy charged with felony assault for turning his K9 dog on an unarmed man having a mental episode.
The case marks a rare prosecution of an on-duty law-enforcement officer, both in Raleigh and nationwide.
District Attorney Lorrin Freeman, who is trying the case personally, could recall only one other recent example: Markeith Council, the Wake County detention officer convicted of involuntary manslaughter in 2013 for fatally beating inmate Shon McLain.
Nationally, only 54 law-enforcement officers faced charges in fatal shootings between 2005 and 2015, out of thousands of such incidents, according to a 2015 Washington Post report.
But the trial also arrives as violent encounters between law enforcement and people with mental health issues are prominent in public discussions. When officers came upon Kyron Hinton last year, he was standing in the middle of Raleigh Boulevard, shouting and waving his hand, having what police radio traffic described as a “possible mental episode.”
Before officers could subdue Hinton and take him away in ambulance, the unarmed man suffered a broken nose, a fractured eye socket and multiple bite wounds from the deputy’s dog, Loki. Cameron and three state troopers have been charged in the April 3 incident.
Hinton, who died in February after receiving an $83,000 settlement from Wake County, has risen in discussions of an April shooting in East Raleigh, in which a Raleigh police officer reportedly shot a 30-year-old man brandishing a knife. Friends and family later said Soheil Mojarrad suffered from mental health issues complicated by a traumatic brain injury.
Hinton gained many advocates in the days after his attack, and his mother Vicki Hinton spoke of his troubled history: dropping out of school after sixth grade, a long association with drugs and alcohol, mental health issues.
On Thursday, Hinton’s mother said she has had trouble finding care for her own mental health challenges, and she had no idea that the deputy’s trial was starting Monday. She said she had been “trespassed” from the Wake County Courthouse for raising her voice there in the past.
“I want justice,” said Hinton, 63. “I’m expecting my God to do a lot [because] he needs to do. He [Broadwell] needs to be under the jail.”
Broadwell was placed on administrative duty with the Sheriff’s Office after the incident with Hinton. A 2018 civil complaint filed in Superior Court against him and then-Sheriff Donnie Harrison said Broadwell had “a department-wide reputation of escalating situations that he encounters in the line of duty with his canine.”
The settlement brought Hinton his $83,000 the day before he died. His supporters told ABC11 that Hinton died from a drug overdose.
Supporters say they are pushing for a positive outcome. Fatal encounters with police have rarely been prosecuted in the past.
In Hinton’s case, “We are waiting for justice to be served,” said Diana Powell, executive director of the Raleigh nonprofit Justice Served NC. “The community is keeping a close eye on the proceedings, and we are planning on being in attendance.”
In 2016, Freeman concluded a Raleigh officer acted in self-defense after shooting Akiel Denkins four times behind a house in Southeast Raleigh. She declined to charge officers in a 2018 fight with Frederick Darnell Hall, who was shown in a video throwing punches on a Southeast Raleigh street before being hit with a stun gun, beaten with batons and kicked. Family said Hall had mental health issues.
The district attorney’s office, “works hard in these cases to study the evidence and apply the law,” Freeman said at the time. “While I am aware of public opinions and concerns, and the work that needs to be done to restore trust in law enforcement and the criminal justice system, we don’t allow that to stop us from seeking the truth in these cases.”
The N.C. Police Benevolent Association took issue last year with Broadwell’s indictment on charges of felony assault and willfully failing to discharge duty, charges he shared with a pair of troopers charged later. Those troopers, Michael Blake and Tabitha Davis, were also charged with lying about their role in the case along with N.C. Highway Patrol Sgt. R.T. Goswick.
Last year, the association’s executive director, John Midgette, said he was disappointed Broadwell had not been able to testify before the grand jury that indicted him. “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,” Midgette said at the time. He did not return a call this week.
Hinton, 29, has said he was walking home from a sweepstakes parlor that night and was upset after losing all his money. Several people called 911 to report that Hinton was standing in the middle of the road.
Some of Hinton’s advocates, though, have shifted their focus fromlaw enforcement and the justice system to creating better mental health services in the neighborhoods that need them.
Nancy Petty, pastor at Pullen Memorial Baptist Church, said while she and other faith leaders in Raleigh hope “our justice system will be fair and deal with the legal side of this,” they have met twice about setting up a Southeast Raleigh mental health crisis center in Hinton’s memory as a more positive solution.
“These mental health clinics that we’re thinking about need to be in the neighborhoods,” she said. “These young men, mostly young men, who are having these crises, they’re not going to get on a bus or drive somewhere. ... We don’t want it to be, ‘Can you pay or not pay?’ You walk in and you know you’re going to receive some care without even being asked.”
Jury selection starts Monday and is expected to last several days. The troopers’ cases will be handled separately, Freeman said.
This story was originally published May 3, 2019 at 7:53 AM.