By admin 
TEMPE, Ariz. — Eryn Bonner’s attorney is calling for a third-party investigation into her July arrest on Mill Avenue in Tempe, and is raising questions about the sergeant conducting the internal review while the city’s police union is pushing back, calling the move an attack on the investigation’s integrity.
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Attorney Ben Taylor said the sergeant overseeing Tempe’s investigation was previously suspended in a use of force case.
“Of all the hundreds of Tempe officers out there, why would they have a person who’s been suspended on a prior case do an investigation on this case?” Taylor said.
Taylor sent an email to Tempe’s mayor and City Council members last week:
“Dear Mayor Woods and Tempe City Council,
We are writing to formally register our concerns regarding the integrity, impartiality, and credibility of the ongoing Internal Affairs (IA) investigation into the July 19, 2026, Mill Avenue incident involving Tempe Police and Arizona State University senior Ms. Eryn Bonner.
It has come to our attention that Sergeant Kevin Ameiss has been assigned to lead this investigation and has already contacted Ms. Bonner and other key witnesses. This assignment presents an egregious conflict of interest and severely undermines public trust in the Tempe Police Department’s accountability processes.
Public records and extensive media reporting confirm that Sergeant Ameiss was the subject of significant disciplinary action following a controversial 2020 incident involving Tre Cumpian, a Black hotel employee who was held at gunpoint. Community leaders and civil rights advocates explicitly called for the termination of officers involved at that time.
Allowing an officer with a documented history of disciplinary action to investigate another high-profile allegation of police misconduct is unacceptable. It creates an undeniable appearance of bias and compromises the validity of any findings.
We have attached relevant news coverage detailing Sergeant Ameiss’s prior disciplinary record, alongside photographs from the community press conference held outside the Tempe City Council Chambers.
To ensure a fair, transparent, and objective review of the July 19th incident, we request that the Tempe City Council take the following actions:
- Remove Sergeant Kevin Ameiss from the Eryn Bonner Internal Affairs investigation immediately.
- Reassign the investigation to an independent, third-party oversight body or external agency to guarantee an unbiased review.
The community is watching closely, and the integrity of Tempe’s police oversight hangs in the balance. We look forward to your prompt response and decisive action on this matter.”
The Maricopa County Attorney’s Office has already declined to pursue felony charges in the case. Tempe is still pursuing misdemeanor charges against Bonner.
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“Tempe is still being vindictive and still trying to bring up charges against Ms. Bonner out of vindictiveness, we feel,” Taylor said.
Several members of the public voiced their concerns about the case at Tempe’s City Council meeting Monday night.
The Tempe Officers Association released a statement supporting the internal review process.
“The Tempe Officers Association supports a thorough and fair review of the July 19 incident. That review should be based on the complete evidence and the facts of this encounter, rather than the continuing stream of false allegations being made in the media by Ms. Bonner’s lawyer.
This entire encounter was captured on body-worn camera and surveillance footage. As we have said from the beginning, those videos show Ms. Bonner repeatedly ignoring officers’ commands to “get back” as they attempted to control a volatile situation. They also show the physical confrontation that followed, including Ms. Bonner striking and scratching an officer.
Not content with misstating the facts of what happened that night, Ms. Bonner’s lawyer is now attacking the integrity of the ongoing investigation by the Professional Standards Bureau. We get it: He has already decided what conclusion he wants the investigation to reach. But his allegations do not determine the facts, nor do they erase Tempe’s long history of holding its police officers accountable.
The TOA believes the appropriate course is to allow the investigation to proceed and to judge its findings on the quality and completeness of the work, rather than attacking the process and the people involved before the investigation can even be completed. We also believe everyone involved should be afforded the opportunity to have the facts, rather than public pressure or selective characterizations, determine the outcome.”
The TOA’s President Rob Ferraro voiced support for Police Chief McCoy at the City Council meeting, noting that 99.7% of emergency calls do not involve force.
“On the rare occasion we use force, we do so to protect the public, protect ourselves and end the threat we face as quickly and non-violently as we can,” Ferraro said.
Tempe police said the investigation into the incident remains active but that there are no new updates to share.
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