Hi there,

Today is the first of two Public Media Giving Days, a time to celebrate what public and independent media gives to you by giving back. If you think Democracy Now!’s reporting is a critical line of defense against war, climate catastrophe and authoritarianism, please make your donation of $10 or more right now. In honor of Public Media Giving Days, a generous donor will TRIPLE your donation, which means it’ll go 3x as far to support our independent journalism. Democracy Now! is funded by you, and that’s why we’re counting on your donation to keep us going strong. Please give today. Every dollar makes a difference—in fact, gets tripled! Thank you so much.
-Amy Goodman

Non-commercial news needs your support.

We rely on contributions from you, our viewers and listeners to do our work. If you visit us daily or weekly or even just once a month, now is a great time to make your monthly contribution.

Please do your part today.

Donate

“I Can’t Breathe”: Bodycam Video Shows Derrick Scott’s Killing by Oklahoma City Police

HeadlineJun 12, 2020

In Oklahoma City, newly released police bodycam footage shows the violent arrest of 42-year-old Derrick Scott, who died in May 2019 after three Oklahoma City police officers pinned him to the ground with their hands and knees for 13 minutes — even after he became nonresponsive. The graphic video shows Scott pleading for his life, repeatedly saying “I can’t breathe,” to which one of the officers replies, “I don’t care.”

Derrick Scott: “I can’t breathe!”

Police officer 1: “Stop resisting!”

Derrick Scott: “I can’t breathe! Please! Ma’am, please!”

Police officer 1: “Give me your hand!”

Derrick Scott: “I can’t breathe easy. I got asthma!”

Police officer 2: “Put that here.”

Derrick Scott: “I can’t breathe!”

Police officer 2: “I don’t care!”

A coroner reported the cause of Scott’s death was a collapsed lung. Derrick Scott’s mother, Vickey Scott, says the release of the video has reopened old wounds.

Vickey Scott: “Just reliving this all over again is like reliving his death all over again, and then watching George Floyd. There’s a lot of George Floyds, and my son was one of them.”

The original content of this program is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. Please attribute legal copies of this work to democracynow.org. Some of the work(s) that this program incorporates, however, may be separately licensed. For further information or additional permissions, contact us.

Non-commercial news needs your support

We rely on contributions from our viewers and listeners to do our work.
Please do your part today.
Make a donation
Top