Black Man Seeks $1 Million in Damages for Mental Trauma & Injuries Inflicted by Gang of NC Troopers who Stomped & Attacked him w/Flashlights, Gun & Dog & Then Lied About It
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A North Carolina judge released a series of disturbing videos last month showing the horrifying attack on a man who had done nothing but walk down the road. Kyron Dwain Hinton, 29, had harmed no one and committed no crime when he was surrounded by police, mauled by a K9, pistol whipped, kicked, punched, and stomped on—for nearly five minutes.
Absent from the series of video released last month, however, was another video from later on that night in which officers were instructed by their sergeant to cover up what happened. That video is now part of the investigation and has ensnared yet another cop. The incident happened on April 3 and the videos are so horrifying that the officers involved have actually been charged for it. [MORE]
From [HERE] Kyron Hinton filed a lawsuit on Tuesday stemming from his severe beating at the hands of a gang of mostly white North Carolina state troopers and a deputy in April that was caught on video, the Associated Press reported.
The suit accused the Department of Public Safety, as the troopers’ employer, for negligence and was seeking $1 million for damages to Hinton’s physical and psychological well-being from the assault. In addition to medical bills, the beating caused “severe mental and emotional distress,” the legal action alleged.
A police dashcam video showed Hinton standing in a road on April 3 when the police surrounded him. When he failed to drop to the ground as ordered, one of the officers unleashed his police dog, which attacked Hinton, tearing his clothes. The other officers followed, punching, kicking and striking Hinton with a flashlight.
It’s easy to see how the vicious beating caused psychological trauma for Hinton. But even less brutal police encounters also cause trauma. Young men of color in particular experienced increased trauma and anxiety from constant encounters with aggressive police officers in their neighborhoods, a National Institutes of Health study found.
Black trauma doesn’t end there, as the New York Times has reported. A study published in The Lancet, a British medical journal, found that entire Black communities are psychologically traumatized by seeing the constant barrage of police beatings of unarmed Black men like Hinton.
The officers who assaulted Hinton were indicted and fired. Wake County Master Deputy Cameron Broadwell, the dog handler, was charged with two counts of felony assault and state troopers Michael G. Blake and Tabithia L. Davis were each charged with one count of felony assault.
Whether they get convicted is another issue.
