Red Bank Police Officer Mark Kaylor may face charges for role in violent arrest

TIMELINE

April 13: Candido Medina-Resendiz is arrested by Officer Mark Kaylor and others. July 7: Red Bank Judge Johnny Houston questions why the video of the arrest has not been provided. July 31: Medina-Resendiz files a complaint of excessive force with Red Bank police internal affairs. Aug. 25: The Red Bank internal affairs investigation clears Kaylor of wrongdoing. Aug. 27: Medina-Resendiz is indicted on charges of resisting arrest, simple assault and DUI by consent. Sept. 15: The district attorney's office first sees the video of Medina-Resendiz's arrest. Sept. 23: Medina-Resendiz takes his story to the media. Sept. 24: District Attorney Neal Pinkston sends Medina-Resendiz's criminal charges back to a grand jury for reconsideration, citing video as new evidence. Sept. 25: Pinkston asks TBI to investigate Kaylor. Sept. 29: Kaylor takes two weeks of vacation. Oct. 2: A second man accuses Kaylor of beating him during an arrest in August. Oct. 3: Red Bank Police find copies of the missing use of force report. Feb. 27, 2015: Pinkston reviews the TBI investigation into Kaylor and decides to take the case to a grand jury. Source: Times Free Press archives

Red Bank Police Officer Mark Kaylor could face criminal charges for his role in the violent arrest of a man on April 13, 2014, District Attorney Neal Pinkston said Friday.

The case will go before the grand jury next week, Pinkston said.

Pinkston decided to take the case to the grand jury after reviewing the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation's months-long report into the officer's actions during and after the arrest.

photo Candido Medina-Resendiz
photo Anthony Joseph Lopez

TBI started to investigate Kaylor in September -- at Pinkston's request -- after 24-year-old Candido Medina-Resendiz accused Kaylor of using excessive force during an arrest.

Dashcam video of the April traffic stop shows Kaylor punching Medina-Resendiz in the arm and face while other officers held him down, stun-gunned him and tried to handcuff him. The encounter left Medina-Resendiz with a swollen-shut eye, a fractured eye socket and cuts and bruises on his face.

The Red Bank Police Department cleared Kaylor of any wrongdoing in August and commended him for his restraint that night. Then, as Medina-Resendiz's case progressed, Kaylor initially failed to provide the arrest video to the courts, despite a subpoena.

Pinkston did not say what potential charges he will present to the grand jury or whether they will center on the arrest or the officer's failure to immediately turn over the video.

Regardless, attorneys for Medina-Resendiz applauded Pinkston's decision to take the case to a grand jury.

"It's been our position for quite some time now that Officer Kaylor is a danger to the public," attorney Andrew Free said.

And while it's rare for grand juries to return indictments against police officers, attorney Kyle Mothershead said he and Free are optimistic.

"Our opinion is that the district attorney has quite a lot of ability to influence these types of proceedings, and we trust Pinkston is truly committed to seeing justice done in this case," Mothershead said.

Red Bank Police Chief Tim Christol said he will not make any decisions about Kaylor until the grand jury meets. Kaylor took two weeks off from work when TBI first launched its investigation and has since returned to the streets as an active officer.

"What happens next depends on what the grand jury decides," Christol said. "Until we have more information, we can't make a decision about what our course of action is."

He added that it's unusual for a district attorney to announce a grand jury presentment before it happens.

"His announcement that he will do something hasn't changed anything," he said.

In addition to Medina-Resendiz's allegations, a second man has also claimed that Kaylor roughed him up during an arrest earlier in 2014.

Anthony Lopez, 34, wore a thick white bandage in his Aug. 4 booking photo and claimed that Kaylor scraped the skin and hair off the top of his head during an arrest. Unlike the April arrest, that time police had no video or audio recordings of the incident.

Initially, police said Kaylor had not filed a required use of force report in Lopez's arrest. But after a Times Free Press story about the missing documentation, Kaylor and his immediate supervisor produced copies of a report that they said had been misfiled. The original report has not been found.

Contact staff reporter Shelly Bradbury at 423-757-6525 or sbradbury@timesfreepress.com with tips or story ideas.

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