It is a disgrace.
On April 15, 39-year-old John Scott Jr., identified to his pals and family members as “LJ,” was taken into custody by Decatur, Alabama, law enforcement officials who had been responding to a name positioned by Scott’s mom, who mentioned her son was experiencing a”psychological well being disaster.”
Every week later, on April 22, Scott died at a hospital he was taken to from what cops reportedly described as some form of medical emergency. Now, footage taken from the day of Scott’s arrest has been launched, and it reveals law enforcement officials dragging the daddy of 5 throughout the ground of a police station by his ft. Officers had reportedly tased Scott throughout his arrest, which, once more, started along with his mom reporting a psychological well being emergency.
From TMZ:
Police reportedly arrived at an condo complicated on April 15, the place they are saying they discovered Scott “sweating closely and exhibiting erratic conduct.”
Officers had been responding to a 911 name from Scott’s mom, who reported he was experiencing a “psychological well being disaster,” in line with NBC Information. Physique cam footage reveals cops unsuccessfully trying to coax Scott into an ambulance earlier than they are saying he turned “combative” … resulting in his arrest.
The footage reveals the officers finally wrestle him to the bottom — with the assistance of a Taser — and haul him off to Morgan County Jail … the place video from contained in the station seems to indicate Scott mendacity on the bottom, surrounded by cops. Decatur Police inform TMZ Scott “was arrested on an impressive Morgan County Failure to Seem warrant.”
To be clear, in line with NBC, what the police declare is that they responded to a 911 name positioned by Scott’s mom, “who requested help attributable to a psychological well being disaster involving her son,” and that they spent near an hour “partaking with Scott earlier than clearing the scene with out incident,” which means that’s not when the arrest happened. The division mentioned that, later that very same day, at 8:15 p.m., officers had been dispatched to a disturbance name at Brookridge Flats, the place they discovered Scott, “who was noticed within the parking zone, sweating closely and exhibiting erratic conduct.” The officers mentioned they requested medical help and, in some unspecified time in the future, they had been knowledgeable in regards to the bench warrant for Scott.
From NBC:
Physique digital camera footage launched April 18 reveals that officers spent about 20 minutes attempting to get Scott to enter the ambulance.
Firstly of the footage, Scott was seen sweating excessively and wiping his face along with his shirt. He was articulate and was seen shaking fingers with officers, attempting to make mild dialog and jokes. Officers repeatedly inspired him to enter the ambulance, or else they’d should arrest him and take him to jail on the warrant.
Scott later appeared nervous, asking to take a second and some breaths. He’s seen on the footage staying close to the ambulance door, however he was hesitant to enter.
So, the officers noticed the person who was clearly in misery being hesitant to enter an ambulance, and, after about 20 minutes, they instructed him he was beneath arrest and ordered him to show round. Decatur police mentioned in a press release that Scott “turned combative” once they moved to arrest him. No less than 4 officers will be seen fighting Scott as he started to yell and scream. NBC famous that, within the bodycam footage, a taser will be heard being deployed a number of occasions as officers repeatedly order him to show onto his abdomen. That’s when Scott will be heard saying these now-infamous phrases related to Black police brutality victims that ended up lifeless: “I can’t breathe!“
Whereas Scott was frantically telling officers he couldn’t breathe, the officers had been commanding him to let go of their legs. Finally, they obtained him handcuffed and instructed him to rise up, however he gave the impression to be unable to rise up, so officers pulled him up off the bottom.
“As a consequence of his vital bodily measurement and power, officers had been compelled to make use of measures in response to his resistance (together with Taser deployments) with a number of unsuccessful makes an attempt to realize management,” police mentioned in a press release.
As for Scott’s dying, the division seems to be working with an identical narrative to what was used to justify the dying of George Floyd, saying his arrest got here after “a collection of incidents seemingly linked to each medical and psychological well being struggles compounded by suspected drug-induced psychosis.” (They’ll at all times point out it if there’s even a suspicion that the sufferer was on medication.)
Scott’s household, who employed famed civil lawyer S. Lee Merritt to symbolize them, “maintained the difficulty was purely a psychological well being episode and say cops ought to’ve dealt with the state of affairs in a different way,” TMZ reported. Merritt and the household argue that Scott wasn’t resisting arrest when cops had been dragging his physique throughout the ground, and that they consider he was unresponsive and presumably unconscious on the time. Merritt described the act as a “violation of LJ’s constitutional and human rights.”
The Decatur Police Division mentioned in a press release that the investigation into Scott’s dying is ongoing and is being performed by the Madison County Sheriff’s Workplace.
