Browse
Log in / Register
Share
As of May 10, 2026, the Phoenix Police Department’s Professional Standards Bureau is reviewing an August traffic stop in which a 29-year-old driver says officers used excessive force. De’Yante Smith and his attorney have asked the department to investigate the arrest, saying the encounter escalated within seconds and left him injured and shaken.
Smith said he was driving near 27th Avenue and Campbell Avenue on Aug. 21 to pick up a friend when a police vehicle cut in front of him and shined a large spotlight into his windshield. He said he did not realize at first that the vehicle was a police car and raised his hands because he was confused.
“I throw my hands up because I’m confused,” Smith said. He said that as soon as he saw the emergency lights and understood the vehicle was police, he pulled over.
Smith said the officers did not tell him why he was being stopped. He described a rapid series of orders to show his hands, unlock the car, and roll down the windows. At the same time, he said, officers pointed firearms at him even though his hands remained visible.
According to Smith, an officer then told him to unlock the door. The moment he did, the officer reached inside and grabbed him by the hair with both hands.
“They pulled me out by my hair. I wasn’t told to get out,” Smith said.
He said he lost two locks of hair during the arrest and later noticed bruises on his shoulder and elbow, a scraped chin, and other injuries. He also said he was punched in the neck and body after being pulled to the ground.
The police report offers a different version of events. It says officers were on patrol near 26th Avenue and Campbell Avenue when they saw a white Mercedes-Benz S550 make a U-turn without signaling near Hazelwood Street. The report says officers believed the area was associated with prostitution and human trafficking and that vehicles linked to those activities sometimes circle the neighborhood.
According to the report, as the Mercedes passed the officers, Smith yelled, “You can’t catch me.” A records check then showed the vehicle’s registration had expired. The report also describes the area as a high-crime zone with a history of shootings, homicides, stabbings, gang activity, and drug activity.
Smith denied yelling anything from his car. “No, that did not happen,” he said.
The report says that after the stop, officers ordered Smith to roll down his windows. It says Smith made movements with his hands, leading officers to draw their weapons. The report also says Smith answered a command to put his hands on his head with “No” and asked why he needed to get out of the car.
Smith said he was never given a reason for the stop and that the commands came too quickly to process.
Once officers opened the car door, the report says Smith pulled his arm away and resisted. An officer then grabbed him by the hair for what was described as officer safety. The report says Smith attempted a double-leg takedown, a move associated with wrestling and MMA, by wrapping his arms around an officer’s legs. An officer responded with about seven closed-hand strikes to Smith’s body and one strike to the side of his head before Smith was handcuffed. According to the report, one officer sustained abrasions to his right hand and left middle finger.
Smith rejected that account. He said he never pulled his arm away, never kicked, and never grabbed anyone’s legs. He also said he has never been an MMA fighter and would not use that terminology.
“I don’t even use that terminology, so I never did anything like that,” Smith said.
Sean Woods, Smith’s attorney at Mills and Woods Law, said the police report contains details that undercut the officers’ version of events.
Woods pointed to a moment in the report where an officer said he heard a loud object hit the ground and drew his weapon again, fearing a gun had fallen. The report later acknowledges the object was another officer’s radio.
Woods said that detail raises a central question: if officers were in control of the scene, how did no one realize the noise was their own equipment?
“They write it from their perspective and they’re allowed to add fluff to it and some hyperbole,” Woods said. He argued that the report frames Smith as more threatening than the circumstances support.
Woods also stressed that Smith is not a prohibited possessor under Arizona law. “He’s not a criminal,” Woods said. “He has legal rights to have weapons just like any of us do in Arizona.”
He said he was most troubled by what the report did not address. “They didn’t address why they were pulling him over and they immediately went to aggression and an escalation of force which was unnecessary,” Woods said.
Phoenix Police said Smith was arrested on allegations involving illicit drugs and prohibited possession of two handguns. According to the police report, an inventory search of his Mercedes found a loaded 9mm handgun in the center console along with a plastic baggie containing six powdery tablets. A second pistol was found inside a backpack.
The Maricopa County Attorney’s Office later told ABC15 that Smith was not a prohibited possessor. Prosecutors said they received a submittal in the case, some allegations were sent back to law enforcement for additional investigation, misdemeanor allegations were referred to the city prosecutor, and the weapons charges were turned down.
Smith was also accused of driving under the influence. He denied the allegation. He was taken to a hospital for his injuries and later booked into the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office jail, where he said he spent about 36 hours.
Smith said he still cannot explain the tablets police say were found in his car. He said he had just picked up the vehicle and owns multiple cars.
Smith said the arrest also cost him personal property that has not been returned. He listed a chain, a Rolex-style pendant, a belt, his phone, keys, and other items from a Coach bag. He said the loss of his phone made it harder to communicate with clients at the junk removal business he has operated for four years.
Smith and Woods said they have filed complaints and requested body camera footage but have gotten almost no response from Phoenix Police. Woods described the communication as “practically zero.”
The department has confirmed that the incident is under review by the Professional Standards Bureau. Body-worn camera video has not been released. A witness captured distance video of part of the incident, but it is not clear enough to confirm the conflicting accounts. According to the police report’s body camera review notes, the sequence from the first command to roll down the windows to the moment Smith was handcuffed lasted about 69 seconds.
Administrative reviews of this type typically focus on whether officers followed department policy, including the use of force. No finding has been announced in this case.
Smith said he believes race played a role in the stop. He said officers seemed to know who was in the car before pulling him over.
The case comes at a sensitive time for Phoenix Police. One day after Smith’s arrest, two Phoenix police officers were arrested in connection with a separate traffic stop in south Phoenix in which they allegedly assaulted two people.
Woods said he worries these incidents may point to a pattern. “Who knows how long it’s been going on and who knows how many people are too scared to come forward with these types of things,” he said.
Smith said the arrest has shaken his trust in law enforcement and left lasting mental and emotional effects.
“I genuinely felt like I could have lost my life that night because of how things went,” Smith said. “If it could happen to me it could happen to anybody.”
