A Phoenix suburb is reviewing the way it handles water rescues after an outcry over video showing three police officers inaction while a man was drowning.
The Tempe Police Department says the officers are suspended with pay after the man drowned in a city reservoir last month.
The uproar arose after Tempe police released edited body camera footage of officers, as well as the transcript of the May 28 incident.
The video shows Sean Bickings, 34, jumping a 4-foot (1.2-meter) fence along the shore of Tempe Town Lake. An agent tells him that he is not allowed to swim. Bickings then dives into the water and begins to swim. Another agent tells the other two to keep an eye on him while he goes to find a boat.
The video ends there, but the recording transcript reveals that two officers repeatedly tell Bickings to swim to a structure near a pedestrian bridge and “hold on.” Bickings continually says that he can’t and asks for help.
At one point, one of the agents says, “I’m not going in for you.” Bickings swam a total of about 40 yards (37 meters) under a pedestrian bridge, city officials reported.
The Tempe Officers Association noted that the public needs to understand that officers are not trained in water rescues. These agents continued their training and went looking for a boat, he said.
In a news release Monday, the city stated that officials will re-evaluate protocols regarding water rescues and also look at where rescue equipment, such as life jackets, should be placed as it relates to the lake or lake. any body of water.
Police initially responded to reports of a fight shortly after 5 am between Bickings and a female companion. When questioned, both denied having had any physical altercation.
However, officers did a name search and discovered that Bickings had three outstanding warrants for his arrest. That’s when Bickings jumped the fence. According to the transcript, his partner, who identified herself as Bickings’ wife, tried to go after him but was stopped by officers.
Firefighters recovered Bickings’ body and pronounced him dead.
The Arizona Department of Public Safety and police from the nearby suburb of Scottsdale are investigating the police response.
Police Chief Jeff Glover met with Bickings’ mother last week. She had asked for any video to be released, the city said.
Tempe Town Lake is more than 2 miles (3.2 kilometers) long and was built in 1999 by damming a portion of the Salt River. It is a popular spot for jogging, biking, kayaking, and other recreational activities.