DA says deputy punched Kyron Hinton four times, then turned his dog loose on him
Wake County Sheriff’s Deputy Cameron Broadwell took down an unarmed man, punched him four times and turned loose his K-9 dog without first speaking to other officers or fully assessing the danger, District Attorney Lorrin Freeman told jurors Wednesday.
Testimony began in Broadwell’s felony assault trial, which prosecutors argue will show the veteran officer used excessive force to subdue 30-year-old Kyron Hinton in April 2018.
Four witnesses called 911 that night to report Hinton standing in the middle of Raleigh Road, waving his arms and yelling to himself.
“I don’t want nobody to hit the man,” said a call from passer-by Wilbert Hackett, which jurors heard Wednesday. “He was talking to the sky and had his head up in the air.”
Another caller reported Hinton appeared to have a “gun to his wrist,” and she pulled her car to within about 10 feet of him to ask if he was OK. He responded in language the witness called “inaudible.”
Police radio traffic at the time reported that Hinton appeared to be having a “mental episode.” His mother has since said her son had suffered from mental illness, as well as drug and alcohol abuse. Hinton died in February, one day after receiving an $83,000 settlement from Wake County. His death was unrelated to his 2018 injuries.
On Wednesday, Freeman said a state trooper arrived on the scene that night in 2018, followed by four Raleigh officers who formed a circle around Hinton. They quickly saw that he had a cell phone in his hand rather than a gun, Freeman said, and were deciding how to help him as he continued yelling.
Broadwell arrived and let his dog, Loki, loose without speaking to other officers on the scene, Freeman said. Of his four blows, three of them hit Hinton’s eye, fracturing his orbital bone. He suffered multiple dog bites.
Freeman, in her opening statement, urged jurors to pay attention to how much time Broadwell spent on the scene before turning Loki on Hinton and how the other officers around him behaved.
“The question in this case is going to come down to whether this defendant, Cameron Broadwell, used force that was excessive,” Freeman said.
The case marks a rare prosecution of an on-duty law-enforcement officer, both in Raleigh and nationwide.
Asked last week, Freeman 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.
But the trial also comes on the heels of two other shootings involving officers, including one in which mental illness appears to be a factor. Hinton’s case 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.
Also on Wednesday, Broadwell’s attorney, Joe Zeszotarski, told jurors that Broadwell acted on a split second during a dangerous incident, and he didn’t have the luxury to dissect dash-cam videos as jurors will do.
Two of the 911 calls reported the man in Raleigh Boulevard with a gun, and Broadwell was responding to a 10-18 call on his radio, meaning the need was urgent.
Other officers stepped back from Hinton when Broadwell and Loki arrived, Zeszotarski said, and it appeared to Broadwell that they were in “some kind of standoff.” Broadwell warned “Get on the ground or you’re gonna get bit” three times before turning the dog loose.
Officers on the scene knew it would take force to take Hinton for a medical evaluation, Zeszotarski said, and one of them adjusted his camera knowing it would need recording. Hinton continued to fight from the scene to the hospital and had to be sedated three times before treatment. During the altercation, Hinton hit the dog and tried to pry its jaws apart.
Broadwell, his attorney said, followed procedures to the extent he took pictures of Hinton’s injuries.
“All he did,” Zeszotarski said, “was his duty to protect us.”
This story was originally published May 8, 2019 at 6:27 PM.