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Sean Bickings asked for help as he struggled to stay afloat in a reservoir in Tempe, Arizona, late last month. But Tempe police officers watched without interference as Bickings sank under the water and did not return, according to city officials, and a transcript of camera footage.
“I will drown. I will drown, “said the 34-year-old Bikings, according to a transcript of a video of the May 28 incident released by city officials.
“Okay, I’m not going to jump after you,” said an officer identified as Officer 1 in the transcript a few minutes later after ordering Bickings to grab a bridge.
“Please help me,” Bickings said. “Please please please.”
Shortly afterwards, Bikings drowned, according to city officials on Friday.
Three Tempe police officers are now on “undisciplined paid administrative leave” as Arizona’s public safety department and the Scottsdale Police Department investigate officials’ response to Tempe’s request, city officials said. The names of the employees are not announced from the city.
In a statement, police chief Jeff Glover and city manager Andrew Ching called Bickings’ death a “tragedy.” According to officials, Glover met with Bickings’ mother last week.
The Tempe Officers’ Association, the city’s police union, did not immediately respond to a request for comment late Sunday.
Shortly after 5 a.m. on May 28, Tempe police responded to an apparent disturbance between Bikiks and a woman at the Tempe Arts Center, located on the promenade along the city’s Tempe Lake, a reservoir in the city. In a statement, the city described Bickings as “unprotected.”
Footage from the body’s camera, published by the city, shows officers approaching and talking to a woman who identifies as Bickings’ wife. As she lifted her belongings from the ground, she explained that she and Bikings sometimes had disagreements, but said he had not physically hurt her.
Two of the officers then went to Bickings, who was sitting on a bench facing the water, according to camera footage. Until now, officials have been managing the couple’s names for unfulfilled orders, a standard procedure according to the city. Police later said Bikings had three unexecuted orders, the Republic of Arizona said.
But they did not show up during Bickings’ meeting with police, according to footage from the camera, which showed police officers trying to talk to Bickings while conducting the investigation.
Then Bikings slowly climbed over a short fence separating the promenade and the water. When one of the officers asked what Bickings was doing, Bickings said he was going “swimming.”
“I’m free to go, aren’t I?” Bikiks asked.
Officials said he was not allowed to swim in the lake, but Bickings came in and began swimming freestyle to a bridge, according to camera footage.
“How far do you think he can swim?” One of the officers asked, according to the footage.
Two of the officers then climbed the bridge where Bickings was swimming and watched him, according to footage from the body camera, which ended at the moment “due to the sensitive nature of the rest of the recording,” officials wrote at the end of the video.
Instead, the city provided a transcript of the rest, indicating that Bickings became increasingly detached as he remained in the water. Bikiks told police he would “drown,” according to the transcript.
“No, you’re not,” replied an officer identified as Officer 2.
Officer 1 then ordered Bickings to “go to the pylon and hold on.”
“We’re drowning,” Bickings said.
“Go back to the pylon,” said Officer 2.
“I can’t,” Bickings said. “I can not.”
“Okay, I’m not going to jump after you,” Officer 1 said.
Bikiks then asked for help and said a few minutes later, “I can’t touch. Oh my God. Please help me. Help me.”
Bikings’ partner then joined the police and asked them to help Bikings, according to the transcript. Officials told her to persuade Bickings to swim to the bridge pylon. She tried and got more and more upset. At one point, according to the transcript, Bickings’ partner tried to jump over the railing to help Bickings, but failed.
“I’m just upset because he’s drowning right in front of you and you’re not going to help,” said Bickings’ partner.
Officers continued to tell her to calm down, saying a third officer was receiving a boat.
“No no no. Swim,” the woman replied, using swear words.
“You’re not helping,” Officer 2 said.
A moment later, Officer 1 said Bickings “went downstairs and hadn’t climbed in about 30 seconds.”
For the rest of the transcript, officials did not contact Bickings. Bikings’ partner continued to tell police that she loved Bikings.
“He’s all I have,” she said. “I can’t lose him, he will die.”
Officials said Bikings swam no more than 40 yards before he got into trouble and “soon he fell and did not rise again. “
The Republic of Arizona announced that a Tempe Fire Medical Rescue team pulled Bickings’ body out of the water shortly before 11:30 p.m.
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