Judge dismisses charges against former Red Bank police officer

Red Bank Officer Mark Kaylor listens to proceeding in Judge Tom Greenholtz's courtroom on Tuesday afternoon.
Red Bank Officer Mark Kaylor listens to proceeding in Judge Tom Greenholtz's courtroom on Tuesday afternoon.
photo Mark Kaylor

A judge dismissed charges this morning against Mark Kaylor, the former Red Bank police officer who was accused of using excessive force in the arrest of a Latino man in April 2014.

District Attorney General Neal Pinkston said video footage of Kaylor punching Candido Medina-Resendiz in the face and shoulders was deeply disturbing.

But prosecutors showed jurors all available evidence during a three-day trial last week. After 11 hours of deliberation, jurors moved to acquit Kaylor, 40, of aggravated assault but couldn't decide whether to convict for a lesser charge. The judge declared a mistrial.

"There's nothing new to present," Pinkston's spokeswoman, Melydia Clewell, said today. "We will not waste taxpayer money trying to affect a different outcome. The jury overwhelmingly chose not to convict Mr. Kaylor and we respect that decision."

Throughout his trial, prosecutors said Kaylor was excessive when he rushed into a struggle between Medina-Resendiz, 26, and backup Red Bank police officers on April 13, 2014. He could have used less-violent techniques to subdue Medina-Resendiz, who was drunk, partly handcuffed, and didn't speak much English.

"He knew how to do it right," prosecutor Kevin Brown said as he held up Kaylor's graduation plaque from the Cleveland State Law Enforcement Training Academy.

Instead, Kaylor punched Medina-Resendiz seven times about the face and shoulders, who needed surgery to fix his fractured eye socket, including a titanium plate for support, prosecutors said.

After dashcam footage emerged, Pinkston asked the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation to launch a probe. In March 2015, a grand jury indicted Kaylor, leading to his resignation.

Kaylor's defense, meanwhile, emphasized that Medina-Resendiz had been arrested on at least four other occasions and knew how to act during an encounter with police.

Medina-Resendiz was drunk and appeared to bite at officers, prosecutors were applying 20/20 hindsight to three seconds of difficult decision making, and other officers used more force than Kaylor, including stun guns and batons, said Kaylor's defense attorney Lee Davis.

"I respect the jury's work last week and I agree with the decision of the DA's office to dismiss it today," Davis said. "I don't believe it would reach a different result. I believe it would be an acquittal."

Because jurors acquitted Kaylor of aggravated assault, prosecutors wanting to retry Kaylor would have to pursue lesser charges - in this case, reckless aggravated assault, a class D felony that carries a sentence of two to four years.

Records show Kaylor had no prior criminal history in Hamilton County. Therefore, he would be a range-one offender, Clewell said, and prosecutors could consider alternative sentencing for him.

"So someone like Kaylor, if he had been convicted, would likely be given probation," Clewell said.

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