A video released this week by the Oklahoma City Police shows the 2019 arrest of a black man, who is seen pinned on the ground saying “I can’t breathe,” to which an officer replies, “I don’t care.” The man died in custody shortly afterward.
Officers arrested the man, Derrick Scott, 42, on May 20, 2019, after receiving reports that someone was brandishing a firearm, Capt. Larry Withrow said at a news conference on Tuesday. He added that Mr. Scott had a loaded gun in his pocket.
A medical examiner’s report from last year lists Mr. Scott’s probable cause of death as a collapsed right lung, and cites physical restraint, recent methamphetamine use, heart disease and emphysema as contributing factors. The manner of death is “unknown,” it says.
Video of the arrest, recorded by police officers’ body cameras, was released this week after Mr. Scott’s family and a local Black Lives Matter group demanded more details about his death.
The video showed officers confronting Mr. Scott in a parking lot. In the recording, Mr. Scott can be seen starting to run from the officers. A male officer tackles Mr. Scott, after which Mr. Scott can be heard gasping, “I can’t breathe,” and the officer replies, “I don’t care.” After the officers restrain Mr. Scott’s hands, they roll him onto his side, into what Captain Withrow called a “recovery position.”
Several minutes later, an ambulance arrives. Mr. Scott can be heard crying and being told to “quit fighting.” As he is lifted toward a stretcher, he jumps up, kicks outward and then falls again. Later, in the ambulance, body camera footage shows one of the officers performing cardiopulmonary resuscitation on him. Mr. Scott was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Captain Withrow said that investigations conducted by the Police Department and district attorney’s office showed there was “no indication of any wrongdoing.” He also said that “once they had any indication that there was any medical distress, they called for medical assistance immediately.”
