*Three officers with the Tempe police department in Arizona have been placed on administrative leave after watching a Black man drown while pleading for help.
The police department released body cam footage of the disturbing incident that occurred at the Elmore Pedestrian Bridge on May 28, TooFab reports. The three officers were responding to an “alleged fight” between Sean Bickings and his wife.
When the officers arrived at the scene, the couple denied that a physical altercation had taken place.
Officials said Bickings attempted to flee the police by getting into the water as the cops ran the couple’s names through a database to check for outstanding warrants. The man climbed over a 4-foot metal fence and entered a Tempe City reservoir.
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“You can’t swim in the lake, man,” the cops tell him, according to a police body-camera-footage transcript that was released by the city, per the report. “You’re not allowed to swim in the lake.”
Bickings ignores the cops and swims about 100 feet out into the water as the officers watch.
“How far do you think he’s gonna be able to swim?” one cop says to the other. A bike-mounted officer remarks “I’m pretty sure there’s turbines at the base of the dam that could suck him under the water.”
“So what’s you plan right now?” the officer on the bridge asks Bickings in the water.
“I’m going to drown. I’m going to drown,” he replies.
“No you’re not,” one officer tells him.
“Go at least go to the pylon and hold on,” the second officer calls down.
“I’m drowning.”
“Come back over to the pylon.”
“I can’t. I can’t,” the man says.
“Okay, I’m not jumping in after you,” the officer tells him.
“Please help me. Please, please please,” Bickings begs. “I can’t touch. Oh God. Please help me. Help me.”
Arizona Cops Refused To Save Black Man Drowning, Transcripts Show: ‘I’m Not Jumping In After You’
Sean Bickings’ death comes amid criticism of police not “doing anything” to stop a mass shooting in a school in Uvalde, Texas. https://t.co/3DuL61rsR7 pic.twitter.com/tHjpSicl1y
— NewsOne (@newsone) June 6, 2022
Bickings’ last words are “Can you hear me?” — and this is where the footage cuts off “due to the sensitive nature of the remaining portion of the recording,” according to police. Bickings drowned and his body was recovered hours later. A local police union said the cops who refused to rescue him were simply following their training.
The Tempe Officers Association, the city’s police union, said police officers do not get training in water rescues nor do they have the life-saving equipment needed to help people who are drowning, NBC News reports.
“Attempting such a high-risk rescue could easily result in the death of the person in the water and the officer, who could be pulled down by a struggling adult,” the group said. “Officers are trained to call the Fire Department … or get the Tempe Police boat. That is what officers did here.”
The union noted that its “grief mirrors our community’s grief,” adding, “No one wanted this incident to end as it did.”
The three officers have been placed on administrative leave pending an investigation into how the department handled the situation with Bickings.
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