Derrick Elliot Scott: Bodycam footage from 2019 shows black man crying ‘I can’t breathe’ as police wrestle him to ground during fatal arrest

A US police force has released footage of a black man telling officers “I can’t breathe,” before he died in custody – one year ago.

In the bodycam recordings filmed by Oklahoma City Police officers in May 2019, Derrick Elliot Scott, 42, can be heard pleading for air as at least one officer straddles him while attempting to place him in handcuffs.

Once he is handcuffed, Mr Scott – also known as Derrik Ollie – appears to fall in and out of consciousness.

Paramedics are then called and he is taken on a stretcher to a nearby hospital, where he was later pronounced dead.

Mr Scott could be seen falling in and out of consciousness after being forcibly restrained by police
AP

Videos of the arrest were made public on Monday night, following demands from a local Black Lives Matter group and several media outlets, the force’s captain Larry Withrow confirmed.

The incident bears harrowing similarities to the killing of George Floyd, 46, in Minneapolis just over a year later, in which he pleaded for air as police officer Derek Chauvin knelt on his neck.

Before the Oklahoma footage was shared with the public, it was shown to Mr Scott’s family.

“It was very troubling to watch,”said Mr Scott’s son, also called Derrick Ollie.

“They stood by and did nothing and acted as if he was OK, when he told them plenty of times that he couldn’t breathe.

“They’re laughing and joking like something is funny, when this man was struggling for his life.”

Mr Scott, who was armed with a handgun at the time of the arrest, matched the description of a suspect who had brandished a firearm, police said.

The video of the incident shows him running away as officers approach, before one tackles him.

They then struggle to handcuff him as he complains that he cannot breathe.

An autopsy report listed the probable cause of death as a collapsed lung and noted several conditions that likely contributed to his death, including physical restraint, recent methamphetamine use, asthma, emphysema and heart disease.

Oklahoma County District Attorney David Prater cleared all of the officers involved last year after receiving a copy of the autopsy report.

“This guy runs from the police. He’s got a 90 per cent occluded major artery in his heart,” Mr Prater told The Associated Press.

“They (officers) didn’t do anything wrong at all.”

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