The day Stephen Pyles woke up to find his home in the Baltimore suburbs ransacked and money and credit cards missing was also the day he was arrested for trying to explain to an police his frustration at the constant burglaries. Officer Louis Facciponti claims the 56-year-old deaf man punched him “suddenly and without warning”. But a paramedic who saw the whole thing says Pyles was only trying to get the officer's attention by putting a note to the officer’s chest that explained his frustration at feeling that his home was unsafe. He was upset that police had done nothing to stop people from repeatedly breaking into his home while he and his family sleep.
Pyles was wrestled to the ground and Facciponti refused family requests handcuff him in front so he could sign or write notes. Pyles wound up in the hospital after the confrontation because he had just undergone neck surgery and was reinjured during the scuffle. But the officer refused to let paramedics check put Pyles before hauling him off in the police car. Pyles was charged with second-degree assault and resisting arrest. But prosecutors now say they are dropping all the charges because the only non family witness confirmed the deaf man’s story and not the officer’s version of what happened.
