No jail time for ex-NC state trooper in beating of suspect after K-9 attack in Raleigh
Former N.C. Highway Patrolman Michael Blake pleaded guilty Monday to misdemeanor charges stemming from the 2018 K-9 attack on the late Kyron Hinton.
He will not serve active jail time but will give up his professional certification, meaning he can no longer serve as a law enforcement officer.
Wake County District Attorney Lorrin Freeman said Blake can be heard on an audio recording ordering other officers to strike Hinton in the head with a flashlight, and that he later filed a misleading statement about the attack that did not mention any use of force.
“There is no place for abuse of authority or lack of candor,” Freeman said.
On April 3, 2018, police responded to 911 calls about Hinton standing in the middle of Raleigh Boulevard, where video footage showed him waving his arms and shouting incoherently. Hinton, who was 29, was not armed.
Officers stood around him, discussing how to move him to safety, when former Wake County deputy Cameron Broadwell arrived and unleashed the dog. In the scuffle that ensued, Freeman said, Blake can be heard at least a dozen times instructing other officers to hit Hinton.
The incident left Hinton with a broken nose, fractured eye socket and numerous dog bites. Blake and another trooper were fired in June 2018 after being charged with assault inflicting bodily injury and willfully failing to discharge duties, The News & Observer has reported.
He died in February 2019 of cocaine toxicity, the day after receiving a settlement from the county.
In May 2019 former deputy Broadwell also pleaded to misdemeanor charges in the attack, giving up his career in law enforcement.
Suspended sentence, community service
Blake will serve a suspended sentence for pleading guilty to two counts of willful failure to discharge duties. He must also perform 200 hours of community service.
Raleigh attorney Joseph Cheshire V praised his client as a decorated combat veteran, a member of the Special Forces who served in Iraq, Afghanistan and Kosovo. He argued for a reduced amount of community service.
“He literally put his life on the line for most of his life,” Cheshire said. “The people in our country who give us the protection ... as a society, we in many ways treat them the worst.”
As he issued the sentence, Superior Court Judge Andrew Heath said, “He’s being judged for events that happened on one day out of decades of service.”
Freeman, though, noted that her office would have brought evidence of other excessive-force incidents if the case had gone to trial.
A settlement and autopsy
In August 2018, four months after the assault, Hinton sued Broadwell and former Wake County Sheriff Donnie Harrison for “false imprisonment” and “emotional distress,” The News & Observer previously reported.
The officers “went beyond all the bounds of decency and conduct that are tolerated by a civilized society and ... in total disregard for their feelings and sensibilities as law-abiding, honest citizens,” according to the complaint.
Hinton received $83,000 in a settlement Feb. 22, 2019.
On Feb. 23, police and emergency crews were called to a house on Cooper Road, where they administered CPR on Hinton, The N&O reported.
He was taken to the hospital where he was pronounced dead, police said. Officials said he died of cocaine toxicity, The N&O reported. But Freeman said he also had neck injuries that caused pathologists to classify his death as a homicide.
This story was originally published January 13, 2020 at 12:08 PM.