"I'm not jumping after you": A man in Arizona drowned after a police officer refused to rescue him
"I'm about to drown, I'm drowning," shouted 34-year-old Sean Bickings, according to the transcript of a video taken on May 28, after illegally entering a water reservoir in Tampa, and was unable to swim
News agencies
08/06/2022
Wednesday, 08 June 2022, 13:03 Updated: 13:24
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A man was killed in Arizona last month after police ignored his calls for help, according to the transcript of the video on police officers' body camera.
"I'm about to drown, I'm drowning," shouted 34-year-old Sean Bickings, according to the transcript of a video taken on May 28, after illegally entering a water reservoir in Tampa, and was unable to swim.
One of the policemen - known as Policeman 1 - replied, according to the transcript: "Okay, I'm not going to jump after you."
Police were called to the Almore Pedestrian Bridge after reporting a confrontation between Biking and his friend.
The two cooperated with the police, who arrived at the scene after 5 a.m. local time.
They denied that they quarreled and quarreled, according to a report by local News 12 channel.
"At this point, cops saw no reason to stay put," said Andy Anderson, a former Phoenix police assistant.
Police also had no experience dealing with people with mental health issues, he said.
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Sean Biking drowned after police officer refused to jump into the water and rescue him (Photo: Official Website, Twitter)
While officers conducted background checks on the two in the database, Bikings climbed the 1.2-foot-high metal fence and entered the water.
He is seen in a video climbing the fence and going down to the lake saying "I'm going swimming".
A policeman told him he was not allowed to swim in the pool, but did not arrest him.
According to Anderson, police had no authority to arrest him.
Bikings swam about 30 feet before starting to harden.
Police did not release the entire video because it was too hard, but provided the transcript, according to which Bikings tells officers he is drowning, while they instruct him to swim to stand and grab it.
"I can not" he shouted back.
One policeman tried to reach the boat.
City authorities did not say whether the city rescue team arrived on the scene.
Tampa police began searching for Bikings and his body was retrieved from the lake shortly after 11 a.m.
The three officers who watched the drowning were taken on administrative leave during the investigation.
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