The man who drowned while three police officers watched: “I will not jump to save you”

This moment was recorded by cameras used by the agents.

One person drowned while police officers were watching a water reservoir in Tempe, Arizona, USA. Meanwhile, victim Sean Pickings was shouting, “I’m going to drown, I’m going to drown.”

This moment was recorded in the pictures of the cameras used in the agents’ uniforms, and was confirmed by the municipality in a statement.

In the video, a police officer can be heard saying to a 34-year-old man, “Well, I’m not going to jump to your rescue.”

The agent in question, identified as Agent 1 in the case report, told Sean Pickings to grab a bridge, and the person said, “Please help me,” and drowned a few minutes later.

The names of the three agents in the case have not been released and they are now on “unpaid administrative leave”. At the same time, the Arizona Department of Public Health and the police launched an investigation.

Those already anticipating the outcome of the investigation are the police chief of Tempe and the mayor of the city. Jeff Clover and Andrew Singh called this episode “tragedy”.

The union, which represents police officers in the region, also said in a statement that this was a “terrible loss” and that they had no training or weapon for such rescue, even when it came to protecting agents. , Under the circumstances, trying to save that man would endanger their lives.

“We will work to change the way the city responds to water-related incidents at Lake Tempe, including introducing training and changing equipment,” the union said.

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What happened that morning

At around 5:00 am on May 28, at the Tempe Arts Center near the city lake, Tempe police were called because of an apparent altercation between Sean Pickings and a woman, who also has a water reservoir.

Camera footage used by police shows officers approaching the scene and approaching a woman who identified herself as Sean Pickings’ wife.

When she picked up her belongings from the floor, the woman explained that although she had assured him that she had not been physically assaulted, she sometimes had disagreements with her husband.

The two officers approached Sean Pickings, who was sitting on a bench facing the water.

As the three were talking, the man climbed the fence separating the land from the water. When an agent asked him what you were doing, Sean Pickings replied, “I’m going to swim.”

“I’m free to go, aren’t I?” He asked.

Agents warned him he could not swim in the lake, but the man began to swim to a bridge.

“How far do you think he can swim?” One of the agents asks.

Two policemen approached the bridge, while they continued to monitor the man. So far all the pictures have been released by the municipality, the rest of the video has to be disclosed by transcription, given the violence of the recording.

That’s when Sean Pickings just starts screaming he’s going to drown, and one of the agents says no.

“Go to one of the pillars and grab it,” said another police officer.

The conversation continues, with the person saying he cannot go to a safe place by himself, while the police respond. Sean Pickings’ wife eventually asks the agents to intervene, but they only ask her husband to convince her to swim to one of the pillars of the bridge.

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Faced with the inaction of the police, the woman began to get annoyed and tried to jump over the fence to help her husband, which she was unable to do.

“I’m devastated because he drowned in front of you, you did not help,” she said.

The conversation continues until one of the agents says Sean Pickings “went down and hasn’t come back in 30 seconds”.

According to the Republic of Arizona, the man’s body was eventually recovered around 11:30 p.m.

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