In Arizona, body-camera and surveillance footage released Tuesday show Phoenix police officers held a man on the hot asphalt for nearly six minutes before he died in the back of a police car earlier this month. Twenty-eight-year-old Ramon Timothy Lopez was apprehended on August 4, chased and tackled to the ground by one of the officers. Two others later arrived on the scene. After pressing him into the scorching hot pavement for six minutes, Lopez was lifted and placed in the back of a police car, where he was later found unresponsive. Photographs revealed his skin was covered in burns.
In related news, the family of Muhammad Muhaymin Jr., a Black Muslim man who was killed by Phoenix police in 2017, is renewing calls for justice after recently released video footage shows Muhaymin screaming “I can’t breathe” and calling “Please Allah” before he died. Footage shows the 43-year-old was held down by at least four Phoenix police officers for nearly eight minutes; one of the officers is seen pressing his knee into Muhaymin’s neck. The family has since filed a $10 million wrongful death lawsuit.