Sean Bickings may not have been a model citizen but that’s no excuse for three sworn officers of the law to stand by and watch him drowning right in front of them. The transcript and body cam footage are both incredibly disturbing.
Drowning probe underway
Three uniformed officers of the Tempe Police Department, in Tempe, Arizona, failed to take any action at all, while the victim’s spouse almost got arrested for begging help. “I’m just distraught because he’s drowning right in front of you and you won’t help.”
An inflatable dam across the Salt river forms a small reservoir of water affectionately known as Tempe Town Lake. In late May, it became the scene of a tragic death which clearly could have been prevented.
Footage from the body cameras released by Tempe officials underscores the way Sean Bickings “pleaded for help as he struggled to stay afloat,” Washington Post reports.
“I’m going to drown. I’m going to drown,” the 34-year-old “unsheltered” drowning victim cried. “I’m not jumping in after you,” Officer 1 replied, suggesting instead that the man grab on to the bridge. “Please help me,” Bickings begged. “Please, please, please.”
All three officers are now on “non-disciplinary paid administrative leave.” The drowning investigation is being carried out by two separate organizations, the Arizona Department of Public Safety and the neighboring Scottsdale Police Department.
Police Chief Jeff Glover and City Manager Andrew Ching described the death as a “tragedy” when he met with Bickings’ mother last week. Most of the country would call it more of a “travesty.”
Apparent disturbance
A misdemeanor disturbance got Sean Bickings a death sentence by drowning. “Just after 5 a.m. on May 28, Tempe police officers responded to an apparent disturbance between Bickings and a woman at the Tempe Center for the Arts.”
That sits along a promenade bordering the shoreline in the college town home of Arizona State University.
The films show officers approach “a woman who identified herself as Bickings’s wife.” She was gathering her belongings from the ground as she explained “that she and Bickings sometimes have disagreements but said that he did not physically harm her.” The last thing she wanted to see was her husband die in front of her. “I’m just distraught because he’s drowning right in front of you and you won’t help,” she yelled. The officers “continued to tell her to calm down, saying a third officer was getting a boat.” Like when, next week?
“No, no, no. Swim,” she cursed back. “You’re not helping,” Officer 2 said. It wasn’t long before Officer 1 noted he “went underneath and hasn’t come up since about 30 seconds ago.” She added, “he’s everything I got,” she said. “I can’t lose him, he’s going to die.”
These officers didn’t try to stop him when he “slowly climbed over a short fence dividing the boardwalk and the water.” They did ask what he was doing. Going “for a swim. I’m free to go, right?” Sure, why not. They didn’t even bother to stop him from drowning. They had called in a warrant check but the word hadn’t come back yet and he had some.
“The officers said he was not allowed to swim in the lake, but Bickings waded in and started swimming a freestyle stroke toward a bridge.” Just like in the Ray Liotta classic “Phoenix,” another neighboring town, they started taking bets. “How far do you think he’s going to be able to swim?” Officials said Bickings “swam no more than 40 yards before he became distressed and soon went under and did not resurface.“