An Oklahoma family is still trying to process newly-released body camera footage of an arrest in 2019 in which Derrick Scott, 42, died after being taken into custody by Oklahoma City police officers.
Police responded to reports of a man brandishing a handgun and encountered Scott, who started to run away when asked if he was armed. The responding officers chased after Scott and tackled him to the ground. They found a gun in Scott's pocket and tried to take him into custody. In the video, as Scott struggles with the officers, he can be heard pleading with them for his medication and telling them he can't breathe.
"I don't care," Officer Jarred Tipton flatly said to him.
That was as far as Scott's mother, Vickey, could get when she reviewed the footage.
"You know, when they first tackled him on the foot chase, and they looked at him, and he said, 'Don't hurt me, just don't hurt me, I can't breathe,' and as he was telling them he couldn't breathe and then the police officer said, 'I don't care,' I couldn't watch anymore," she told KFOR.
Scott was taken to the hospital where he died. The autopsy report stated that the cause of death was "undetermined" and said that drug use, asthma, emphysema, and heart disease were all factors in his death.
The three officers involved in the arrest were cleared of misconduct charges following an investigation by the Oklahoma County District Attorney's Office.
Oklahoma City Police Captain Larry Withrow defended the officers and explained that their comments were said in the "heat of the conflict."
"Certainly that may be something an officer says," he said, according to NBC News. "Just understand — the officers are fighting with someone at that point."
Scott's uncle, Ronald, said that he was bothered by how callously the officer's handled his nephew.
"The thing that bothered me in the video was how they treated his life," he said.
Local activists are calling on the department to act to ensure that officers are treating everybody with dignity and respect.
"If that is policy and there is a lack of focus on humanity and civility to anyone, then they certainly need to be addressing and changing that policy effective immediately," said Rev. T. Sheri Dickerson.
Photo: KFOR-TV