Phoenix man says hot asphalt caused third-degree burns during arrest

An Arizona man says police held him down on scorching asphalt while arresting him during the height of Phoenix’s summer heat wave, causing third-degree burns on his body.

Video obtained by CBS News from the man’s attorney shows Michael Kenyon talking on his cell phone walking in a parking lot on July 6 when police pull up in a Phoenix police truck. Two officers get out and Kenyon puts away his phone. Within a few minutes, they try to handcuff him and a struggle ensues. Two backup officers then arrive at the scene. 

It appears from the video that the four officers push Kenyon onto the ground and hold him there. Officers then scuffle with Kenyon before he is finally handcuffed and the officers lift him from the asphalt and escort him into a police vehicle.

Kenyon’s attorney, Bobby DiCello, said he spent more than one month in the hospital after the incident recovering from burns from the asphalt. 

When officers lifted Kenyon off the asphalt, his melted skin peeled off and fell to the ground, his attorney said. Police called an ambulance after an officer noticed his burns, police said.

“They held a man — another human being — on a surface so hot that it caused his skin to bubble and boil. It defies all reason,” DiCello said in a statement, adding his client was now “scarred for life.”

DiCello said the temperature that day was 114 degrees, with the asphalt estimated to be between 180 and 200 degrees. Phoenix hit 100 straight days with at least 100-degree temperatures during the summer. Arizona has the country’s only chief heat officer, and Maricopa County, where Phoenix is located, is the hottest metro area in the United States. 

Phoenix police said officers responded to a call regarding a theft in progress. “Officers made contact with Kenyon, telling him he was being detained so they could understand what may have occurred. The man struggled with police, which resulted with him being taken to the ground on the hot asphalt. The man sustained burns to different parts of his body from the time he was on the ground,” police said in a statement to CBS News.

Police said Kenyon was determined not to be the robbery suspect they were searching for that day. Later when he was taken to the hospital, officers learned he had a felony warrant out for his arrest. 

Phoenix police said their Professional Standards Bureau is investigating the incident.

Kris Van Cleave

contributed to this report.