TEMPE, Ariz. — More than three weeks after a man drowned pleading for help in front of Tempe officers, the City released more than five hours of body camera footage.
However, for more than half of those five hours, the videos have no audio. Tempe also did not release any video or audio of the roughly four minutes and 35 seconds that Sean Bickings struggled to stay afloat.
Bickings had slowly climbed over a 4-foot metal fence and entered the water at Tempe Town Lake after officers were called to the area on a reported disturbance between Bickings and his wife on May 28.
Officers told the couple they were running their names through a database to check whether people have outstanding arrest warrants. Officials said the check was not complete when Bickings entered the water.
City officials said he swam about 30-40 yards before indicating he was in distress.
A medical examiner's report shows Bickings' primary cause of death was drowning and a contributory cause of death was methamphetamine intoxication.
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According to a transcript released by Tempe police, Bickings begged for help in the water.
The transcript reads in part:
Bickings: I’m drowning. (inaudible)
Officer 2: Come back over to the pylon.
Bickings: I can’t. I can’t. (inaudible)
Officer 1: Okay, I’m not jumping in after you.
Victim: (inaudible) Please help me. Please, please, please.
The newly released video cuts out shortly before the transcript begins. When it resumes, officers put Bicking's wife in handcuffs before putting her in the back of a police car.
"You realize by you staying over here with you, I can't help your husband." An officer said to Bicking's wife, around 10 minutes after Bickings disappeared beneath the water.
Bicking's wife was detained in the back of the police car for more than an hour.
While talking with a man from the City of Tempe about whether to commit Bicking's wife to a mental health facility, an officer says, "If I saw someone that I work with fell in there, I would be jumping over there to help too."
Most of the video released has no audio. Officers are seen talking on the bridge shortly after Bickings went under, but almost all of the video has been muted.
12 News has asked the City of Tempe why they have refused to release the video of the moments around Bickings drowning and why so much of the video released has been edited but received no response.
Two days before he drowned, Bickings met with Tempe's mayor, police, and city officials over homeless issues. According to his friends, Bickings asked what homeless people were supposed to do if they have warrants.
In a press release, the Tempe Officers Association says officers are not trained for water rescues. They said attempting a high-risk rescue could result in an officer’s death. Instead, officers followed protocol and went to get a boat.
The city does have two rescue boats, one belongs to the police, the other to the fire department. However, both boats sit in a marina on the north side of the lake. That marina sits nearly a mile from where Bickings drowned.
You can watch all of the Tempe police videos here.
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