Tempe police booked a man they said assaulted an officer during a disturbance call while his mother is arguing they used excessive force during what should have been a mental health crisis response.
The July 31 arrest of Malik Pitts, 31, was captured on cell phone video by his mom, Monique Harris, 50, at her home. As of Aug. 31, body camera footage from the arrest had not been released to The Arizona Republic. Harris' video is nearly 3 minutes long and shows multiple officers in a struggle with Pitts. The incident, which is under internal investigation, has led to outcry from the NAACP and came only days after another filmed altercation between Tempe police officers and a Black person.
Harris, who was not the person who called police to her home,
told The Republic she informed officers of her son's bipolar disorder and schizophrenia.
"I told them that I wanted to get him evaluated, because I think he's suffering," Harris said. "They told me that they will help me get him evaluated, but they needed to talk to him first."
This proved false as the officers "refused" to let "me get into my house," so they "could attack my son," she said.
The city of Tempe has a 24-hour crisis response team that did not appear to be present during the incident.
Video appears to show stun gun used after handcuffing
Pitts was visiting Harris ahead of a party the following day for his son's first birthday, she said. Harris said she has multiple sclerosis and that Pitts occasionally acts as her caregiver, including after she suffered a concussion from a recent car accident. Despite Pitts' struggles, Harris said he managed to become an electrician.
Harris said she was unaware police were called to the home but had heard a woman, whom she described as a friend of her son's, telling someone on the phone that Pitts had bipolar disorder and schizophrenia.
Harris' video showed the incident beginning when two uniformed male officers grab Pitts, each pulling him by the arm with all three landing on what appears to be an ottoman immediately in front of a couch.
An officer is seen striking Pitts twice with his forearm before a third uniformed male officer approaches from behind and joins the struggle. This third officer grabs Pitts' hair with one hand and pushes the man's head down on the couch with his other hand. Shortly after, the officer who had earlier struck Pitts with his forearm, pulls out a stun gun and deploys it twice on the man. A fourth uniformed male officer appears and helps to get Pitts handcuffed following a little more than two minutes since the video's start.
The officer with the stun gun appears to deploy it a third time on Pitts, who is by then handcuffed and can be heard crying out "Ow" multiple times and moaning. Pitts is then seen being carried away by the first two officers involved in the struggle as drool falls from his mouth. Throughout the video, Harris is heard decrying the officer's actions as the woman who called police is heard wailing.
Harris said Pitts requested to talk to a sergeant and that he was unaware of an arrest warrant that officers told him he had. The warrant was for failure to appear in court, according to Harris, and was issued in December, jail records showed.
Harris said the sergeant approached Pitts but never identified his rank to either mother or son. The sergeant was the officer who grabbed Pitts by the hair and pushed his head down on the couch, Harris said she later learned.
Harris, according to charging documents, told police she had an order of protection against Pitts, which police confirmed remained active. Harris told The Republic she never felt threatened by Pitts and that the order of protection was placed two years before to help motivate him to achieve independence that he struggled with due to his mental health.
"I thought that the restraining order was null and void. I thought it expired," Harris said.
Court docs narrate officers' incident account, list indictments
Officers made it to the home in the area of University Drive and Loop 101 after a call by a woman who had been staying at the residence for the past three weeks, according to a probable cause statement filed by police. The woman told officers that Pitts was being "erratic" and "dangerous" and had lunged at her, the probable cause statement said.
Officers told Harris that Pitts had an outstanding arrest warrant and approached the home's door, asking him to speak with them, according to charging documents.
Pitts refused and told police he "wasn't going anywhere," prompting officers to grab both his hands with him "immediately" beginning to pull away and "tensing" his arms, according to the charging documents.
Officers struggled to place Pitts' arms behind his back as he freed one of his hands and left a small abrasion and redness, charging documents said. Pitts bit down on an officer's right arm twice, while another officer suffered a quarter-inch laceration on his finger, according to charging documents. Officers used a stun gun on Pitts to "overcome resistance, defend themselves, and to effect a lawful arrest on" Pitts, charging documents said.
The struggle led to an officer's prescription glasses breaking, documents added.
A grand jury indicted Pitts on Aug. 10, on suspicion of aggravated assault, a Class 4 felony, resisting arrest, a class 6 felony, and interfering with judicial proceedings, a class 1 misdemeanor, according to court documents. Police initially recommended an assault on a first responder, a class 3 felony charge, according to the probable cause statement.
As of Aug. 31, Pitts was being held on a $3,000 bond, according to jail records.
City of Tempe, police and officers group respond to allegations
The city of Tempe and Tempe police told The Republic the incident was under investigation, including a review of video evidence.
Domestic disturbance calls "are among the most dangerous calls an officer will face as they are volatile, unpredictable and emotionally charged," read an Aug. 26 statement. "The use of force is typically the last resort to keeping the peace, and in Tempe, it is rarely used."
Tempe police had "some form of reportable force" used in approximately .35% of calls from 2024 through Aug. 12, according to the joint statement.
“I’m proud of the progress we’ve made over the past three years. We continue to see our use of force decline," read a statement from Tempe Police Chief Ken McCoy. The drop "reflects the professionalism of our officers and our continued emphasis on training, communication, and de-escalation. We will continue building on that progress."
In a statement to The Republic, the Tempe Officers Association pointed to 120,000 service calls the force conducts annually, as cited by the city and police department.
"Very few law enforcement encounters that involve any level of necessary force look pretty, just as this one does not," read the association's Aug. 26 statement.
Similiarities seen with woman's violent Mill Avenue arrest
The NAACP Arizona State Conference's executive committee issued a statement Aug. 12, describing the incident as "deeply troubling" and as "severe excessive force," adding the officers' accounts stood in "sharp, direct contradiction" to Harris' video.
The state conference's executive committee likened Pitt's arrest to the July 19 arrest of Eryn Bonner, a Black woman, by Tempe police officers on Mill Avenue.
Surveillance video and body camera showed an officer push Bonner to the ground twice within 15 seconds and try to restrain her five seconds later after she tried to pull officers off of a man suspected of assault. The Maricopa County Attorney's Office declined prosecuting Bonner on the felony charges of aggravated assault of a first responder and resisting arrest. As of early August, prosecutors were pressing forward on misdemeanor charges in suspicion of assault, resisting arrest, disorderly conduct and obstruction.
Andre Miller, a Mesa church pastor and the NAACP Arizona chapter vice president, said he forwarded Harris' video to McCoy on Aug. 12, prompting the Police Department's internal investigation. Miller said he met with McCoy, Tempe Mayor Corey Woods and City Manager Rosa Inchausti and expressed concerns on how Pitts could be convicted before the internal investigation is completed.
"Nobody saw a bite. Nobody saw an attempted choking," Miller said, referencing Harris's video.
Miller added that the injuries the officers reportedly sustained during the arrest could have been through the "tussling" and "pile-on."
Miller said that Pitts had not received mental health care since his arrest, adding, "If he was bleeding, he would get bandaged, right? He would get taken care of that way."
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Watch Tempe police tase man on visit mom says was mental health crisis
