Three police officers in Ariz., are under investigation after they watched a man drown in a reservoir and did not help him.
On May 28, while responding to a disturbance call at a reservoir near Elmore Pedestrian Bridge, police met Sean Bickings, 34, and an unnamed woman, according to a statement from the City of Tempe. The statement describes Bickings as “an unsheltered Tempe community member.”
During an “unhandcuffed” conversation, Bickings and the woman “cooperated fully and denied that any physical argument had taken place.”
Afterward, police say Bickings voluntarily climbed over a metal fence and entered the water before he became “unable to continue swimming.”
Officers at the time were searching for the names of Bickings and the woman in a database for potential arrest warrants.
Police say Bickings swam approximately 30 metres away before indicating any distress. He then went under the surface and did not emerge again.
City manager Andrew Ching and police Chief Jeff Glover said Bickings’ death was a “tragedy.”
On Monday, the City of Tempe released 12 minutes of edited bodycam footage and what it says is a transcript from the incident. The transcript, police say, is to substitute video footage of Bickings’ drowning.
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The city said the bodycam footage was released publicly “out of respect for Bickings’ dignity and his mother’s stated wishes.”
In the transcript, one unnamed officer responds to Bickings’ repeated cries of “I’m going to drown,” with “No you’re not.”
Another officer, identified only as Officer 1, adds, “I’m not jumping in after you.”
As per the transcript, Bickings continues to plead for help from the officers, who tell him to swim to a nearby pylon.
“I can’t touch. Oh God. Please help me. Please, please please,” Bickings says in the transcript.
“Sir, you need to listen to me,” an officer replies. “Hey, listen to me. Swim to the pylon.”
“I can’t. I can’t,” Bickings says, adding “Can you hear me?”
The officers have been placed on paid administrative leave pending an investigation. The city says the investigation may take several weeks, as it is waiting for the results of a medical examiner’s report.
The union that represents Tempe Police Department officers, called the Tempe Officers Association, provided a statement to CNN, saying police do not receive training in water rescue and do not have the proper equipment to assist people at risk of drowning.
“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. Officers are trained to call the Fire Department and or get the Tempe Police boat. That is what officers did here,” the statement said.
“To watch the 11-minute video leading up to Mr. Bickings’ entering Tempe Town Lake and to understand how this 911 call ended is to see an awful loss of life. Our grief mirrors our community’s grief. No one wanted this incident to end as it did.”
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