Frank Tyson

Frank Tyson, 53, died in the custody of Canton, Ohio police officers Camden Burch and Beau Schoenegge on April 18, 2024, after they restrained him face-down on the floor of a veterans hall he had entered following a car crash. Body camera video showed Tyson repeatedly telling officers “They're trying to kill me” and, after being handcuffed with an officer's knee on his upper body, “I can't breathe”; an officer told him “You're fine. Shut the [expletive] up.” Tyson was left motionless and unattended for roughly seven minutes before officers checked on him. The Stark County coroner ruled his death a homicide. A grand jury indicted both officers on felony reckless homicide charges in November 2024, making Tyson's case one of the rare instances to reach that point. Nearly two years later, on the day jury selection began for their trial, both officers instead pleaded guilty to unrelated misdemeanor charges — failure to report a crime and dereliction of duty — neither of which addresses causing Tyson's death, and the original reckless homicide charges were dropped. No one has ever been convicted of causing Tyson's death.

Canton, OH · Stark County

• 2024: Case opens — victim reported missing or found.
• Documented milestones (renewed investigation, media coverage, family advocacy) to be added as sourced.
• Present: case remains unresolved. No named suspect has been convicted.

• The vehicle crash, the encounter at the AMVETS post, and Tyson's death in custody, per body camera footage released publicly and Stark County Prosecutor Kyle Stone's public statements.
• Tyson had crashed his car into a utility pole and walked into a nearby veterans hall, where someone called police; when officers arrived, Tyson became distressed and repeatedly said “They're trying to kill me” and “Call the sheriff” as they moved to restrain him.
• Body camera video showed officers taking Tyson to the floor face-down and handcuffing him while one officer's knee was on his upper body; Tyson repeatedly said “I can't breathe,” and an officer responded “You're fine. Shut the [expletive] up.”
• After Tyson was handcuffed, officers left him motionless and unattended on the floor for roughly seven minutes before checking on him, administering Narcan, and beginning CPR.
• The Stark County Coroner's Office ruled Tyson's death a homicide in August 2024, also citing a heart condition and cocaine and alcohol intoxication as contributing factors.
• A Stark County grand jury indicted both Burch and Schoenegge on one felony count each of reckless homicide in November 2024, a rare instance of officers facing homicide charges for an in-custody death.
• The case was delayed roughly two years through multiple continuances and a change of prosecutor and judge; on August 10, 2026, the day jury selection began for their trial, both officers pleaded guilty instead to unrelated reduced misdemeanor charges — Burch to failure to report a crime, and Schoenegge to dereliction of duty — carrying maximum sentences of 30 and 90 days respectively, and both resigned from the department as part of the deal.
• Neither misdemeanor charge Burch or Schoenegge pleaded guilty to addresses causing Tyson's death; the original reckless homicide charges, which did, were dismissed as part of the plea agreement. Tyson's family separately filed a $13 million federal lawsuit against the city and the officers.

• Whether the restraint techniques used on Tyson, including the knee placed on his upper body while he repeatedly said he could not breathe, directly caused his death, or whether his underlying heart condition and intoxication were the primary cause, as the coroner's report characterized as contributing factors alongside the restraint itself, was never resolved by a jury, since the case ended in a plea agreement before trial testimony began.
• Why prosecutors agreed to drop felony reckless homicide charges entirely, rather than seeking any plea to a lesser charge that would have still addressed causing Tyson's death, has not been fully explained in available public reporting beyond the general dynamics of a negotiated plea on the eve of trial.
• The specific sentences ultimately imposed on Burch and Schoenegge, scheduled for a later sentencing hearing, were not confirmed in the sources reviewed for this summary.

• CBS News — “2 Ohio police officers involved in Frank Tyson's in-custody death charged with reckless homicide”
• Ideastream Public Media — “Canton police officers plead guilty to lesser charges in man's death”
• Yahoo News / The Repository — “Former Canton police officers to be sentenced Sept. 24 in Frank Tyson death case”
• Project Cold Case
• Murder Accountability Project
• NamUs