Frank Tyson, freed after 24 years, died 13 days later as Canton cops pinned him face-down

A 53-year-old Ohio ex-con died after an officer put a knee on his back while he was handcuffed face-down, police said.

Police identified the man as Frank Tyson, 53, of Canton, Ohio.

Tyson had walked out of prison just 13 days earlier, after serving 24 years for kidnapping and theft.

On April 18, 2024, Canton police responded to a car crash outside the AMVETS club, police said.

A vehicle had been driven into an electric pole outside the building, according to police.

Inside, officers found Tyson, police said. A woman who had let officers into the building asked them to remove him.

Bodycam video shows officers approaching Tyson as he appeared to resist.

A struggle followed, and one officer put a knee on his back while he was cuffed and lying face-down, video shows.

Tyson said “I can’t breathe” multiple times during the struggle.

Civil rights attorney Ben Crump later described what happened next: “the police officer says ‘shut the F up.’”

About five minutes after the struggle began, an officer checked Tyson’s pulse. Officers started CPR soon after, police said.

Tyson was taken to Aultman Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 9:19 p.m., according to authorities.

“We only had 13 days before they took his life away, again,” his partner, Sabrina Jones, said. “He was working on his future. He wanted to go to work, he told me.”

Rev. Al Sharpton and Crump spoke at Tyson’s funeral.

“You see us all as expendable,” Sharpton told the room. “And we come to tell you that Frank mattered to us, his life had value to us.”

The Ohio Attorney General’s Bureau of Criminal Investigation is handling the case at the Stark County Sheriff’s Office’s request.

Canton police say they can’t comment further while that investigation stays open.