Phoenix man suffered burns when held down by officers during triple-degree heat
A man suffered third-degree burns this summer when Phoenix police officers held him to the sidewalk for four minutes on a day with three degrees of heat.
ABC15Arizona reported On Tuesday, Michael Kenyon reported that he spent more than a month in the hospital in “excruciating pain” from burns to his face, arms, chest and legs after the July 6 encounter with officers in a parking lot. That day the high temperature reached 114 degrees Fahrenheit (45 degrees Celsius).
Kenyon told the station he believes officers stopped him because his roommate had recently reported a theft from their home, which is across the street from where the encounter took place.
Phoenix police said that although Kenyon matched the description of the suspect, he was ultimately determined not to be a suspect. The agency said it is conducting criminal and internal investigations.
At the time, Kenyon had an outstanding warrant for failure to appear on drug charges. He said he was not aware of the warrant, and the department confirmed that officers were not aware of it at the time either.
Surveillance footage showed Kenyon walking in the parking lot and being stopped and questioned by officers, who tried to detain him. Police say Kenyon was taken to the ground by officers after a struggle.
“This young man was burned to the third degree because his skin was cooked on asphalt,” said Bobby DiCello, one of Kenyon’s attorneys.
Dozens of people are hospitalized with superficial burns every summer in Phoenix, where sweltering sidewalks pose as painful a hazard to people as air temperatures are rising into the triple digits.
Young children, older adults, and homeless people are especially at risk for contact burns, which can occur within seconds when skin touches a surface at 82 degrees Celsius (180 degrees Fahrenheit). Contact burns typically occur accidentally, often when someone trips and falls, or suffers heat stroke and collapses on the sidewalk.
This isn’t the first time someone has claimed to have suffered burns while being held down on hot pavement by Phoenix police officers.
A 2020 lawsuit alleged a 17-year-old girl suffered second-degree burns to her arms when Phoenix police officers restrained her on a sidewalk on a day when temperatures reached 105 degrees Fahrenheit.
The lawsuit alleged that the teen’s skin peeled from her body as officers removed her from the sidewalk, an accusation denied in the lawsuits by attorneys representing the police department. The lawsuit was dismissed in April 2022.
This year the Phoenix Police Department was accused by the U.S. Department of Justice of discriminating against Black, Latino and Native American people, unlawfully detaining homeless people and using excessive force, including unjustified deadly force.
The city has indicated that it is prepared to do this police reforms but has resisted efforts to enter into a consent decree with the Justice Department.
Earlier this month, Phoenix police officers were criticized after video was broadcast of officers repeatedly hitting and shocking a deaf black man with a Taser during an Aug. 19 encounter in a parking lot. Resisting arrest and aggravated assault charges were later filed against the man rejected.