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Three Arizona police officers are on administrative leave after public outcry over accusations they let a man drown.
Bodycam footage has gone viral as commenters give their thoughts on the situation.
According to officials, the officers refused to save the man.
The situation began when police were called for a possible domestic incident near Tempe Town Lake at the end of May. The officers questioned Sean Bickings and his wife, who both denied any fighting took place.
After speaking with the couple, the officers went to check for warrants for Bickings, who took the opportunity to try and leave.
He said:
“I’m going to go for a swim. I’m free to go, right?”
An officer told Bickings that while he wasn’t being detained, he wasn’t allowed to swim in the lake. Bickings climbed over the 4 foot fence and got into the lake.
Two minutes later, he was calling for help.
The video shows Bickings begging for his life.
“I’m going to drown. I’m going to drown.”
The officers refused to jump in after Bickings.
\u201cDEFUND DEFIND DEFUND \n\nAs Sean Bickings cried out for help, the officers told him they were not going to jump into the water to save him. https://t.co/dcvspVuNHj via @HuffPost\u201d— \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6\ud83d\udd25Firetender\ud83d\udd25\ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6 (@\ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6\ud83d\udd25Firetender\ud83d\udd25\ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6) 1654576650
\u201c@HuffPost Also apparently were lacking other essentials such as courage, empathy and intelligence. But they\u2019re cops do what would anyone expect. And they get upset when people don\u2019t call them heroes?\u201d— HuffPost (@HuffPost) 1654559700
\u201c#CowardCops\u201d— VitalVeterans \uea00\u262e\ufe0f (@VitalVeterans \uea00\u262e\ufe0f) 1654627164
\u201cOnce again, cops have no Constitutional duty to protect or save your life. They will literally stand by and watch you die.\n\nhttps://t.co/8nozsFwmp1\u201d— N.A. Lee (@N.A. Lee) 1654560662
\u201cOf course they\u2019re out on paid admin leave smh. Hope his family sues for everything\u2026oh wait, the Supreme Court led by Alito made sure that\u2019s not possible smh\u201d— #Legendary (@#Legendary) 1654559843
\u201c@EdwardJMalloy41 @HuffPost HOW would THREE of them be putting their lives at risk in the rescue of one drowning man??\u201d— HuffPost (@HuffPost) 1654559700
In the footage, as Bickings called for help, his wife is begging the officers to save him.
She says:
“He’s everything I got. I can’t lose him, he’s going to die.”
As the officers refused to rescue Bickings, her pleas became more intense.
“I’m just distraught because he’s drowning right in front of you and you won’t help him.”
“I’m so tired of not being heard all the time. This very upsetting. I can’t even finish a sentence.”
“He’s f**king a good man.”
The bodycam footage is edited to cut off before showing Bickings death out of respect for his family. Arizona’s Department of Public Safety and Scottsdale Police Department are investigating the response from the officers.
In the meantime, the officers involved have been placed on non-disciplinary paid administrative leave.
The Tempe Officers Association, the police union, defended the actions of the officers saying they weren’t trained in water rescue.
“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.”
Additionally, it’s been argued the officers’ gear would prevent their ability to swim.
These excuses didn’t sit well with the public.
\u201c@MaddMadamMim @HuffPost I did in my GRADE SCHOOL years.\u201d— HuffPost (@HuffPost) 1654559700
\u201c"Not trained for water rescues", "not trained to confront school shooters" - what are they trained for? Anything besides shooting unarmed black folks? Seems like those billions could be put to better use\nhttps://t.co/UqU1Xv8wHw\u201d— Ethan Senack (@Ethan Senack) 1654620138
\u201cI don\u2019t care what this says about their training ANY real human being would of done something! This is inexcusable.\u201d— Msjb13 \ud83e\udd73 (@Msjb13 \ud83e\udd73) 1654562440
\u201cIt doesn\u2019t take \u2018proper equipment\u2019. It takes a man\u2026.or three men\u2026.with a heart and compassion to save a life. \n\nIt takes a heinous disregard for the life of another to watch a man drown and laugh about it.\n\nF\u2019ing cowards. They should be fired & arrested https://t.co/L8p6mdIHzu\u201d— Susan Anderson (@Susan Anderson) 1654645037
\u201c@Jack0Clubs @HuffPost That's true but it wasn't the tone of the officers' remarks.\u201d— HuffPost (@HuffPost) 1654559700
\u201cThe excuse they\u2019re using in this situation (that they\u2019re not trained in water rescues) applies to all situations, so they\u2019re basically saying that if someone shoved you into the lake they would call the fire department and then just stand there watching you drown.\u201d— Blake Stovall (@Blake Stovall) 1654560277
The police union assured it will work with the police department for additional training to try and prevent situations like this from happening again.