CANTON, Ohio — Family and friends gathered Wednesday for the funeral of Frank E. Tyson, the man who died in custody of Canton police last month.
The service took place at Hear the Word Ministries on 31st Street Northwest in Canton where Rev. Al Sharpton gave the eulogy.
“I didn’t want to send a statement. I wanted to come and I wanted them to know I’ll be there whenever they need us," Rev. Sharpton said.
As he began his comments, Rev. Sharpton gave the Tyson family a check for $10,000 on behalf of NAN (National Action Network) to help pay for funeral expenses.
“This was not in the family plan," Rev. Sharpton said. "Did 24 years under questionable circumstances. Just got out of jail, and just a few days later killed by a policeman. He did his time for what you accused him of a crime. Well now, where is the policeman that put his knee on his back and the other policeman? And when he was begging for his life told him to shut the f up? Well, if you made Frank pay for something his family said he didn’t do, we come to tell you those two police need to pay for what we know they did do.”
Rev. Sharpton arrived at the funeral after landing in Cleveland.
“When I’m riding into Canton, they talk about this is the home of the Hall of Fame for the NFL," Rev. Sharpton said. "If you can’t do justice for Frank, you will be the Hall of Shame around this country.”
“Frank Tyson’s cries of ‘I can’t breathe’ are ones we have heard far too often when Black men and women die in police custody,” said Rev. Sharpton before the funeral. “Once again, we have seen footage of those pleas for help not only ignored but dismissed by officers using excessive force – who then left him to lie unconscious for several minutes. I have answered the family’s call to deliver Frank’s eulogy and remain committed to delivering justice for them.”
You can watch the funeral service in the player below.
The following individuals were also in attendance at the funeral:
- Bobby DiCello, attorney for Frank Tyson’s family
- Attorney Ben Crump
- The family of Frank Tyson
- Selwyn Jones, George Floyd’s uncle
- Other families directly impacted by excessive police force
Crump was previously in Northeast Ohio last week for a press conference with Tyson's family where they called for justice in his death.
“Frank Tyson was robbed of his liberty for 24 years because of a racist, uncompassionate criminal justice system," Crump said during last week's press conference. "Frank had been free less than two weeks before he was robbed of his life from a racist criminal justice system.”
After the funeral service, 3News spoke with Hector McDaniel, President of Stark County NAACP.
He called the service inspiring and very moving, appreciating the passionate calls for more collaboration as they seek justice for Tyson.
A week ago, McDaniel and his team sent a letter to the U.S. Department of Justice, asking them to investigate the death of Tyson in Canton Police custody. We asked him if they've heard back.
“We have not heard back yet, but we're anticipating and we're hopeful that they will actually take up on that letter and come in and do that investigation as being requested,” he said.
McDaniel stressed that a federal investigation would be a huge deal.
"When we talk about the Department of Justice and what do they come in and do, I don't know all fundamentally," he said. "What I know about just initiating that action, it can say to a community there's somebody else looking, somebody that's really kind of interested in how policing is done in this community. I think that it can help how we can move this community forward in terms of bringing some healing and some accountability to the community."
Last month, the Canton Police Department released body camera footage showing the death of the 53-year-old Tyson while he was in police custody. The video included Tyson's last words "I can't breathe." In all, the 35-minute, 46-second video shows officers arriving to the scene, confronting Tyson, and attempting to take him into custody. After his last words, it also shows a period of 5-plus minutes where he laid motionless on the floor before police checked for a pulse.
The encounter occurred on April 18 when two officers responded to an AMVETS Post on Sherrick Road Southeast. Police say Tyson ran there after crashing his car near the eastern limits of the city of Canton. The video shows officers struggling to arrest Tyson before one of the officers restrains him by placing his knee on the back of Tyson's upper body. Tyson is heard on the video repeatedly saying, "I can't breathe."
Canton police identified the officers involved as Beau Schoenegge and Camden Burch of the department's traffic bureau. Both were placed on paid administrative leave, per department policy, with the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation currently conducting an inquiry into the case.
Authorities initially acknowledged the incident on Friday, April 19, saying officers responded to a report of a one-vehicle crash in the 1700 block of Sherrick Road Southeast around 8:15 p.m. Officers observed a power pole in the roadway that had been sheared in the wreck and found the vehicle nearby before being directed to the AMVETS, where Tyson was located.
In that release, police stated that Tyson struggled with the officers before they secured him, and that the officers noticed he was unresponsive "shortly after securing him in handcuffs." After performing CPR and administering multiple doses of Narcan, Tyson was later pronounced dead at an area hospital.