8 Police Officers Involved In Restraining Marvin Scott III Will Not Be Indicted After His Death Ruled A Homicide
In an effort to be transparent in the investigation of Marvin Scott III’s death, a Black man who died from being restrained under police custody, the Collin County Sheriff’s Office in Texas released a more than 41-minute video pertaining the encounter.
As BLACK ENTERPRISE previously reported, Scott was placed in a restraining bed and pepper sprayed as he wore a spit mask— designed to prevent a person from spitting on officers.
The video was released two weeks after it was determined by a grand jury it will not be indicting the eight officers involved in restraining Scott whose death was ruled a homicide, NBC News reported.
Related stories: MARVIN DAVID SCOTT III, KILLED WHILE UNDER POLICE CUSTODY, AUTOPSY RULED HOMICIDE
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The video was recorded on March 14 with no sound and the faces of the officers censored, the latter being intentionally done by the department. The lack of audio is due to the camera system not supporting audio recording.
The Dallas News‘ breakdown of what happened reports that Scott was taken out of his jail cell by eight jailers into an adjoining room.
The officers then tried to place Scott onto the bed, which he resisted. The jailers were frustrated, one of whom used a canister of pepper spray to silence Scott.
The pepper spray managed to calm down Scott who was sitting up while jailers tried to strap down his legs. Scott was seen talking to one of the jailers on his left.
When jailers pulled Scott down to the bed, he resisted again, this time, Scott had his head hanging off the edge of the bed.
This awkward position triggered jailers to be aggressive with Scott’s face, with one of the jailers grabbing the sides of Scott’s chin and another jailer subjectively directing someone outside the room to bring in a spit mask.
The chaos lasted for about 15 minutes as several jailers weighed down on Scott with their knees while he was strapped tightly on the bed.
After jailers realized Scott was no longer moving, nurses were called in to revive him.
The process took about 20 minutes as a jailer and a medical personnel tried to pump Scott’s chest manually with their hands and raise both his arms in the air.
First responders used a CPR machine that pump air onto his chest and into his mouth.
Scott was placed on a stretcher and taken to a hospital, where he was later pronounced dead, NBC News reported.
Sheriff Jim Skinner wanted to be transparent with the Scott family on how the department treated him.
“As other proceedings are possible or pending, the Sheriff’s Office has no further comment at this time,” Skinner said.
Scott, 26, was arrested that day for possessing less than two ounces of marijuana.
Seven of the eight officers were fired after an internal review was conducted, with the last cop resigning because of the incident. However, one of the terminated officers successfully regained his position in an appeal and five more who were terminated are having their appeals reviewed, Dallas News reported.