PHOENIX — The Phoenix Police Department cleared a quartet of officers who pinned a wrongly-identified man on hot pavement, which burned away chunks of his skin across his body.
The incident occurred last summer and is now the subject of an ongoing federal lawsuit.
In a written statement, Phoenix police officials said a special board reviewed the officers’ actions.
“The administrative investigation is completed and closed. It went before the Critical Incident Review Board, which is made up of an assistant chief, a commander, a peer and three civilians. The CIRB determined the actions of the officers were in policy as written at the time. The Chief concurred,” according to the statement.
The statement continued: “In February, Phoenix police revised its operations orders to include the following: Employees will be reasonably attentive to environmental conditions, extreme temperatures, surface heat, etc., when placing a person on the ground, against vehicles, or other surfaces. When safe and feasible, employees will promptly move subjects to temperature-safe locations during detention, arrest, or while in custody.”
RELATED: New Phoenix police policy warns about hot pavements
Michael Kenyon was approached by officers on the afternoon of July 6, 2024, when the temperature reached 114º in central Phoenix.
Surveillance video shows Kenyon was stopped by officers and questioned in a parking lot near 7th and McKinley streets. After both sides began pulling against each other, a handful of officers took Kenyon down to the blacktop and kept him there for more than four minutes.
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A witness from a nearby balcony began recording in the middle of the incident.
The cell phone video shows Kenyon yelling out, “Please… please… I can’t move. I didn’t do anything.”
ABC15 has requested body camera videos from the incident, but Phoenix has not yet released any of the footage.
In police records, officers said Kenyon struggled with their officers.
Kenyon, who has not been charged with a crime related to the incident, spent more than a month hospitalized with burns on his face, arms, chest, and legs.
Chunks of flesh are now missing from above his knees.
“Michael would ultimately spend more than 30 days in the Maricopa County Burn Center—during which he would go through a series of brutally painful procedures, including skin grafts, to attempt to treat his injuries,” according to Kenyon’s lawsuit. “He has since spent time in physical therapy attempting to regain mobility of his arms despite these burns. And he continues to carry the severe scarring and disfigurement of what these officers did to him.”
In a previous interview with ABC15, Kenyon said he believes officers stopped him because his roommate had recently reported a theft from their home, which is across the street. Police later determined Kenyon was not the suspect in the theft.
Contact ABC15 Chief Investigator Dave Biscobing at Dave@abc15.com.
