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“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.”

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