The temperature in Phoenix reached 114 degrees on July 6, a fact that became painfully clear to Michael Kenyon. As he went to buy a drink, he was confronted by police officers who held him down on the hot pavement for four minutes, according to surveillance video viewed by the . Medical records show the 30-year-old, who'd been wearing a tank top and shorts, suffered third-degree burns to his face, chest, arms, and legs.
"Hospital photos show deep burn scars and skin peeled off across his body," per the . Police had been searching for an alleged thief. Kenyon wasn't their guy, a rep confirmed.
He did have an outstanding warrant for failing to appear on a drug charge, but Kenyon and the officers say they weren't aware of it, per . "Please ..
. I didn't do anything," Kenyon is heard saying in a video filmed by a bystander, per the . "I didn't understand why people wouldn't help me as I was screaming in pain .
.. like I was dying," he now tells the outlet.
"It felt like acid burning my skin." He says he apparently fell unconscious and came to handcuffed to a hospital bed, where he stayed for more than a month. Third-degree burns can take months to heal, while the scars can cause physical limitations for years, an expert tells the .
Almost four months later, Kenyon is still missing bits of flesh, per KNXV. Police, who are conducting internal investigations, have not released body-camera footage of the arrest. The department says Kenyon "struggled with police, which [resulted] with h.