TIMELINE
April 13, 2014: 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. March 3: Kaylor resigns from the Red Bank Police Department. March 4: Kaylor is indicted on charges of aggravated assault, reckless endangerment and official misconduct. Source: Times Free Press archives
Red Bank police officer Mark Kaylor was indicted Wednesday on charges of aggravated assault, reckless endangerment and official misconduct for his role in the violent arrest of a Hispanic man in 2014.
He resigned from the police department Tuesday.
The charges and resignation start a new chapter in a months-long saga that began in April 2014, when Kaylor was one of several officers involved in the arrest of Candido Medina-Resendiz, 25.
Dashcam video of the traffic stop shows Kaylor punching Medina-Resendiz in the arm and face while other officers held the man down, stun-gunned him and tried to handcuff him. During the incident, Medina-Resendiz cries out several times while Kaylor lies on top of him, and at one point the officer tells Medina-Resendiz that he is going to "[expletive] kick your ass."
The encounter left Medina-Resendiz with a swollen-shut eye, a fractured eye socket and cuts and bruises on his face.
The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation opened an investigation into the arrest after Red Bank police internal affairs cleared Kaylor of wrongdoing and commended him for his restraint that night.
Kaylor's defense attorney, Lee Davis, said the officer plans to fight the charges, which are felonies. Kaylor is expected to appear in Hamilton County Criminal Court next week. Davis will ask for a jury trial to try to exonerate his client, he said.
"Officer Kaylor has been very clear with us that he has done nothing wrong, that he followed his training and department policy and that he has cooperated with the investigation and internal affairs and they found no evidence of wrongdoing," Davis said.
District Attorney Neal Pinkston, who initiated the TBI investigation, declined to comment on the indictment. Red Bank Police Chief Tim Christol confirmed Kaylor's resignation in a release but declined to comment further.
Medina-Resendiz's attorneys - Andrew Free, Kyle Mothershead and Jerry Martin - said in a statement that they believe the indictment is a step toward justice for their client.
"We applaud the work of District Attorney Pinkston and the investigators at the TBI in pursuing justice for Mr. Medina-Resendiz and the members of the community, especially after Chief Christol and the Red Bank Police Department commended Officer Kaylor's actions in this matter and put him back on active patrol," the statement read.
Kaylor, who was hired by Red Bank in 2011, will turn himself in to authorities and will be issued a $10,000 bond. If convicted, he could face up to 15 years in prison.
Although he resigned ahead of the indictment, Kaylor hopes to return to the force after he fights the charges, Davis said.
"We felt that with the indictment looming it would be too much of a distraction to the department and Kaylor did not want to put that kind of pressure on the other officers," Davis said. "He has now resigned and once we get this behind him he will approach Red Bank about reinstating."
The charges stem only from the arrest of Medina-Resendiz and are not related to allegations made by a second man, Anthony Lopez, shortly after Medina-Resendiz spoke out about his experience.
Lopez, 34, claimed that Kaylor roughed him up during an arrest on Aug. 4, 2014. That encounter, however, was not caught on video and initially Red Bank police said Kaylor had not filed any paperwork indicating that he used force during Lopez's arrest.
Kaylor and his immediate supervisor later produced copies of the necessary report and said the original had been misfiled and lost.
After Lopez came forward, a handful of people - including many from the local activist group Concerned Citizens For Justice - called at a Red Bank City Commission meeting for Kaylor to be fired. Ash-Lee Henderson, a CCJ organizer, said the group was surprised by the indictment.
"It's huge news," she said. "I think ultimately, this is a first step toward a measure of justice, although there is more work that needs to be done."
Contact staff reporter Shelly Bradbury at 423-757-6525 or sbradbury@timesfreepress.com with tips or story ideas.