'I don't care': Officer's chilling response to black man before his death
WARNING - GRAPHIC CONTENT: Oklahoma City police have released body-camera videos of an armed black man who died in police custody last year after telling arresting officers ‘I can’t breathe.’
In the footage of the May 2019 arrest, 42-year-old Derrick Elliot Scott, also known as Derrick Ollie, can be heard moaning and struggling for air as at least one officer straddled him in an attempt to place him in handcuffs.
After telling the male officer he “couldn’t breathe”, the cop can be heard replying “I don’t care”.
A female officer then threatens to taser Mr Scott, who is laying on the ground.
Mr Scott appears to go in and out of consciousness. An officer performs CPR on the 42-year-old before paramedics arrive and place Mr Scott on a gurney and transport him to a nearby hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
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The shocking video was released this week by the Oklahoma City Police Department following a demand from the Oklahoma City Black Lives Matter group and requests from several media outlets, Oklahoma City Police Captain Larry Withrow said.
The footage is eerily similar to video showing George Floyd’s death last month in Minneapolis police custody, which has ignited protests and scattered violence in cities across the US.
Oklahoma Police cleared over Derrick Scott death
Mr Scott, who was armed with a handgun, matched the description of a suspect who had brandished a firearm, according to police.
As police officers approached him, the video shows Mr Scott ran away before one officer tackled him.
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 peer occluded major artery in his heart,” Mr Prater said in a telephone interview.
“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 (officers) didn’t do anything wrong at all.”
with AP
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