Transcript: Officers watched man drown as his wife begged them to enter lake and rescue him

Representatives of the Tempe Officers Association, the union representing Tempe, Arizona police officers, said on Monday that officers are not trained in water rescues and they lack the equipment required to help people who are drowning, NBC News reports. 

“Attempting such a high-risk rescue could easily result in the death of the person in the water and the officer, who could be pulled down by a struggling adult,” representatives of the union said in a statement. “Officers are trained to call the Fire Department … or get the Tempe Police boat. That is what officers did here.”

The union is referring to reports that three unnamed Tempe police officers watched a Black man drown in Tempe Town Lake while he pleaded for help. Authorities released body camera footage from the incident, which does not show the officers attempting to save the drowning man identified as Sean Bickings.

TheGrio sent two emails to the police department to ascertain whether a reach or throw water rescue happened off-camera and to get the police department written protocol for police response in such instances, but has not received a response by the time of publication.

As reported by Fox 10, transcripts of the harrowing incident reveal that Bickings begged to be saved as the officers seemingly taunt him by making clear that they have no intentions of rescuing him. 

“I’m drowning,” Bickings says, according to the transcript. One officer directs him to swim toward a pylon. 

“Please help me,” Bickings calls out. “Please, please please.”

The first officer replies, “Okay, I’m not jumping in after you.”

Bickings’ encounter with police began when officers arrived at Tempe Center for the Arts just after 5 a.m. on May 28 after receiving calls of a disturbance involving Bickings and his wife. The couple reportedly denied that a physical fight had taken place.

Bickings, described by officers as an “unsheltered Tempe community member,” attempted to flee by getting into the lake in what turned out to be a fatal decision.

In a statement, Tempe officials noted that when “officers told the couple they were running their names through a database used to check whether people have outstanding arrest warrants,” Bickings responded by climbing over a 4-foot metal fence near the Elmore Pedestrian Bridge, per the report. He then made his way down into the lake. 

“Officers informed him swimming is not allowed in the lake,” the statement reads. “He swam about 30 to 40 yards before repeatedly indicating he was in distress. He soon went under and did not resurface.”

According to the transcript, the man’s wife, who is not named, begs the officers to help Bickings.

“I’m just distraught because he’s drowning right in front of you, and you won’t help,” she says. 

The transcript shows that an officer threatened to detain the woman. “If you don’t calm down, I’m going to put you in my car,” the officer says. 

Bickings yells out, “I can’t touch. Oh God. Please help me. Help me,” he said, adding “Can you hear me?”

The footage ends just before the drowning. Bickings’ body was pulled from the lake hours later, according to the report. The Tempe Officers Association said in a statement that its “grief mirrors our community’s grief,” adding, “No one wanted this incident to end as it did.”

Safety experts recommend the “Reach or Throw, Don’t Go” approach as an effective water rescue method, which the police department was not equipped to perform. Per the U.S. Army’s official website, the process should be attempted in the following order:

1. REACH: Hold on to the dock or your boat and reach your hand, a boat oar, a fishing pole, or whatever you have nearby, to the person

2. THROW: If you can’t reach far enough, toss things that float for the person to grab

3. ROW: If you’re in a boat, use the oars to move the boat closer to the person in the water, or call out to a nearby boat for help. Don’t use the boat’s motor close to a person in the water, they could be injured by the propeller

4. DON’T GO: Don’t go into the water unless you are trained. Call out for help

The American Red Cross offers classes on this topic. 

Meanwhile, the three officers who failed to rescue Bickings have been placed on non-disciplinary, paid administrative leave pending the investigation into the police response to the drowning, which is customary in critical incidents,” per the official police statement.

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