The mother of a black Oklahoma man who died in police custody has called for the cops to be charged after video showed her son telling officers ‘I can’t breathe’ – in a case strikingly similar to the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis last month.
Derrick Elliot Scott was seen pleading with Oklahoma City police officers in body-cam footage of his May 2019 arrest released on Monday.
The 42-year-old, who was armed, was heard telling three cops, ‘Please, help me. I can’t breathe,’ after they placed him in handcuffs and pinned him to the ground for 13 minutes.
He eventually lost consciousness and was pronounced dead in the hospital an hour later.
Police released the footage of his arrest this week under pressure from Black Lives Matter and media outlets, but authorities maintain the cops ‘didn’t do anything wrong at all.’
Vickey Scott has called for three Oklahoma City cops to be charged over her son’s death and for the entire police department to review its training and use of force policies
Derrick Elliot Scott is pinned down in Oklahoma City last year in newly released bodycam footage which foreshadows the George Floyd video. The officers involved in this footage have been cleared of any wrongdoing
Scott’s mother, Vickey Scott is now demanding the cops be charged with murder and for the entire police department to review its training and use of force policies.
‘I want the officers to be convicted of killing my son. I want something to be done about police officers being more compassionate when people tell them they can’t breathe,’ she told The Oklahoman.
‘Even if you had him apprehended and in handcuffs let him be able to fight his case. Give him a chance.’
She expressed her pain in watching the video of her son’s final moments saying ‘it’s almost unbearable to know he took his last breath trying to get people to hear him.’
‘It’s like reliving the whole thing over but now I really know the truth as to how he died, so now it’s a lot more painful.’
She added: ‘I want every mother to watch that … and imagine that’s your son’s last so many minutes of life and he’s dying and they’re saying that he’s faking.’
As Scott lay on the ground saying he is struggling to breathe, an officer is heard replying ‘I don’t care’ while another says he is ‘acting like he’s unconscious’.
Pursuit: The footage from May 2019 shows cops pursuing Scott after they identified him as the man ‘brandishing a firearm’ whom they had come to confront
Scott was tackled by police on a patch of grass – as seen here from another officer’s body camera – and struggled with officers as they tried to handcuff him
Police captain Larry Withrow said police had ‘located a loaded firearm’ in Scott’s pants pocket when they searched him, but claimed they had ‘immediately’ called for medical help when he appeared to lose consciousness (the paramedics are seen in wearing orange)
In a press conference on Tuesday, Police Captain Larry Withrow insisted the arresting officers acted appropriately and said most people ‘frequently’ say they struggle to breathe during an altercation.
‘It’s not uncommon for people, when you’re struggling with them, when you’re trying to get him under control, to say, “I can’t breathe”,’ Withrow said.
‘If they’re still struggling and they’re still fighting with you and they’re talking with you, it makes you wonder, are they really having difficulty breathing? Or are they just trying to get away?’
Based on the footage, Withrow said officers had employed academy-taught techniques and had rolled Scott over into a ‘recovery position’ after he was having trouble breathing.
‘I don’t know that there’s any more they could have done to monitor the suspect or ensure his health,’ he said.
Scott told the local news outlet the entire police department is in need of reform and officers should no longer use those methods of restraint.
‘I think [during their] training they should teach them that when a man or woman says “I can’t breathe”, you should not apply pressure.
‘I think the whole Oklahoma City Police Department should be reformed so we can heal. I think we need to rebuild it from the ground up.
‘As long as things like this keep happening, we’re not gonna heal. I want to feel like a human being again.’
The footage from May 2019 shows cops pursuing Scott after they identified him as the man ‘brandishing a firearm’ whom they had come to confront.
Scott tried to flee but was tackled to the ground on a patch of grass where police tried to handcuff him.
As he struggled with the cops and one officer threatened to tase him, Scott said several times that ‘I can’t breathe’.
After the suspect is finally handcuffed and another officer arrives, one is heard saying that Scott is ‘acting like he’s unconscious’.
Police captain Larry Withrow said police had ‘located a loaded firearm’ in his pants pocket when they searched him, but claimed they had ‘immediately’ called for medical help when he appeared to lose consciousness.
Scott later regained consciousness and became ‘combative’ by ‘jumping and kicking at the officers’ as paramedics tried to move him to a gurney, Withrow said.
The phrase ‘I can’t breathe’ has become a global rallying cry since footage of George Floyd’s arrest in Minneapolis (pictured) ignited a blaze of protests against racism and police brutality
Withrow said police and paramedics had performed CPR on Scott in the ambulance but that the suspect had later died in hospital.
Before the footage was released publicly, it was shown to Scott’s family. His son Derrick Ollie said it was ‘very troubling to watch’.
‘They stood by and did nothing and acted as if he was OK, when he told them plenty of times that he couldn’t breathe,’ he said.
‘They’re laughing and joking like something is funny, when this man was struggling for his life.’
An autopsy report listed the probable cause of death as a collapsed lung and noted several conditions that likely contributed to his death, including physical restraint, recent methamphetamine use, asthma, emphysema and heart disease.
Oklahoma County District Attorney David Prater cleared all of the officers involved last year after receiving a copy of the autopsy report.
‘This guy runs from the police. He’s got a 90 per cent occluded major artery in his heart,’ Prater said.
‘I mean, he’s just a perfect candidate to die when you’ve got meth in your system and those kinds of physical ailments and then you fight with police.
‘They didn’t do anything wrong at all,’ he said of the officers, who have since returned to regular duties.
George Floyd, who was unarmed and handcuffed, similarly pleaded for air as a white officer pressed a knee on his neck in Minneapolis on May 25. He later died.
The four officers in the Floyd case have all been fired and charged, with Derek Chauvin facing a second-degree murder charge.
Floyd’s death has set off a wave of protests against racism and police brutality, including in Europe and around the world.