Tyron McAlpin Settlement: Lawsuit, $3.5M Demand, and Arrest Footage

There is no publicly announced settlement in the Tyron McAlpin case. His federal civil rights lawsuit against the City of Phoenix and three police officers remains active in the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona, and the most recent docket entry, dated June 18, 2026, is a report on settlement discussions filed by his attorney. No trial has been held and no dollar figure has been agreed to.¹

Where the Lawsuit Stands

McAlpin’s attorney, Jesse Showalter, filed the federal complaint on March 5, 2025. The case, McAlpin v. Phoenix, City of et al (No. 2:25-cv-00757), names the City of Phoenix and officers Benjamin Harris, Kyle Sue, and Jorge Acosta as defendants. It alleges battery, negligence against the city, and violations of McAlpin’s Fourth Amendment rights, including excessive force and false arrest. The complaint seeks compensatory damages, punitive damages against the officers, and attorneys’ fees, but does not specify a total dollar amount.²³

The case was assigned to Judge Krissa M. Lanham, with Magistrate Judge John Z. Boyle. McAlpin is represented by the law firm Robbins Curtin Millea and Showalter.¹⁴

The $3.5 Million Pre-Suit Demand

Before the lawsuit, Showalter tried to resolve the case directly with the city. In November 2024 he filed a $3.5 million notice of claim against the City of Phoenix and the three officers. The notice offered to release all potential claims, including wrongful arrest, malicious prosecution, excessive force, negligence, assault, battery, defamation, and intentional infliction of emotional distress, for that amount. According to Showalter, the city never responded to the notice or contacted his office about settlement, and the litigation followed only after the demand expired.⁵⁶

What Happened in the Arrest

The claims trace back to August 19, 2024, when Phoenix officers Harris and Sue responded to a call about a disturbance at a Circle K in Phoenix. The original suspect described to dispatch was a white man in his 20s. When officers arrived, that individual, later identified as Derek Stevens, told them McAlpin had assaulted him. Store employees and surveillance footage contradicted Stevens; the video showed McAlpin trying to help employees remove Stevens from the store.⁶

Body camera footage shows officers going hands-on within seconds of approaching McAlpin. Harris began punching him almost immediately. Sue pressed him to the ground and continued striking him. Officers punched McAlpin at least ten times in the head and shocked him with a Taser at least four times while shouting commands like “Get your hands behind your back.” McAlpin is profoundly deaf and has cerebral palsy. He could not hear the commands, and his attempt to gesture toward his ears was ignored.⁶⁷

McAlpin’s girlfriend arrived at the scene and told officers he was deaf and had cerebral palsy. None of the officers included that information in their police reports.⁸

The Criminal Case Was Dismissed

McAlpin was booked on two counts of aggravated assault and one count of resisting arrest, plus an initial theft charge tied to the original call. Bail was set at $6,500. He could not afford it and spent 24 days in the Maricopa County jail before The Bail Project posted his bond.⁹

The Maricopa County Attorney’s Office dropped the theft charge on October 15, 2024. Two days later, County Attorney Rachel Mitchell dismissed all remaining charges after personally reviewing body camera footage, police reports, and other materials, with input from a group of senior attorneys and community members she convened to evaluate the case.¹⁰⁶

The footage also cut against key officer accounts. Harris had testified that he went hands-on because McAlpin raised his hands as if to strike, but the video appeared to show McAlpin with his arms at his sides when officers lunged. Both officers acknowledged at a preliminary hearing that they had little to no training on interacting with hearing-impaired people.¹⁰

Officer Discipline Was Reversed on Appeal

The Phoenix Police Department’s Professional Standards Bureau found policy violations by the officers. On March 25, 2025, Interim Chief Michael Sullivan announced that Harris, Sue, and Acosta each received 24-hour unpaid suspensions, and two of the three were ordered to attend additional de-escalation training. Three supervisors were investigated for failing to supervise and were exonerated.¹¹¹²

The officers appealed to the Civil Service Board, a group of city residents appointed by the city council that hears appeals in private. The board rescinded Harris’s suspension entirely and reduced Sue’s discipline to a written reprimand. The city said it had no authority over the board’s independent decisions. No criminal charges were filed against any of the officers, and the file contains no indication of an FBI or Department of Justice civil rights investigation into their conduct.¹³

The Backdrop the Civil Case Sits Inside

McAlpin’s arrest came two months after the U.S. Department of Justice released a June 2024 report finding that the Phoenix Police Department engages in a pattern or practice of conduct that violates the U.S. Constitution and federal law, including excessive force, unlawful detention of people experiencing homelessness, and discrimination against Black, Hispanic, and Native American residents.¹⁴ The DOJ later closed the investigation under the following administration without entering a consent decree or any binding federal oversight agreement.¹⁵

Arizona’s training system also figures into the case. In 2021, the Arizona Peace Officer Standards and Training Board and the Arizona Commission for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing developed a training program for officers, but it remains optional. A proposal to make annual disability-interaction training mandatory was introduced in the state legislature several years prior and was defeated over concerns about cost and time. After McAlpin’s arrest, Governor Katie Hobbs directed AZPOST to remind law enforcement agencies about the available training. It still has not been made mandatory.¹⁶¹⁷

1
PACER Monitor. McAlpin v. Phoenix, City of et al
2
NBC News. Phoenix Officers Suspended 24 Hours for Repeatedly Punching Deaf Man With Cerebral Palsy
3
AZ Family. Deaf Man Punched, Tased by Phoenix Police Files Federal Civil Lawsuit
4
Daily Moth. Charges Dropped Against Black Deaf Man Tyron McAlpin
5
KJZZ. Tyron McAlpin’s Lawyer Files Lawsuit Against Phoenix, 3 Police Officers
6
ABC News. Deaf Man With Cerebral Palsy Couldn’t Communicate With Officers Before Violent Arrest
7
GPB News. Phoenix Police Allegedly Beat, Repeatedly Tased Deaf Black Man Who Has Cerebral Palsy
8
ABC15. Phoenix Officer Repeatedly Punched, Tasered Deaf Black Man With Cerebral Palsy
9
The Bail Project. Tyron’s Violent Arrest Exposes Cash Bail’s Dangerous Impact on Americans With Disabilities
10
KCRA. Phoenix Police Bodycam: Tyron McAlpin
11
Fox 10 Phoenix. Tyron McAlpin Case: Phoenix PD Suspends Officers, Issues De-Escalation Training
12
City of Phoenix. Chief Issues Suspensions on McAlpin Case
13
ABC15. Suspensions Canceled for Phoenix Cops Who Punched, Tased Deaf Man With Cerebral Palsy
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ABC News 4. Bodycam Footage Shows Phoenix Police Punch and Tase Deaf Disabled Black Man
15
CNN. Justice Department Consent Decree: Police Department
16
ABC15. Governor Takes Action After Deaf Man’s Violent Arrest
17
KJZZ. How Well Are Officers Trained to Deal With People With Disabilities