An Oklahoma City Police officer told a man being held under arrest he didn't care if he couldn't breathe despite the man warned of his symptoms before dying, newly released body camera footage shows.
The footage released this week by the Oklahoma City Police Department shows the May 20, 2019, arrest of Derrick Scott, a 42-year-old man who can be heard repeatedly requesting his medicine and warning: "I can't breathe."
Responding to Scott, who was black, one of the officers, identified as Jarred Tipton, who is white, can be heard saying: "I don't care."
Another officer later warns Scott: "I'm gonna tase you." At one point, an officer then appears to say: "He's acting like he's unconscious."
During the arrest, an officer can be seen pulling a handgun out of Scott's pocket.
An ambulance was called to the scene, police said. "Once the suspect was loaded into the ambulance EMSA advised officers he had become unresponsive," the police department said.
One officer, Sgt. Jennifer Titus, assisted EMSA personnel by administering CPR. Scott was then transported to southwest E.R., where he died.
In a statement sent to Newsweek, an Oklahoma Police Department spokesperson said the Oklahoma State Medical Examiner's Office Report stated there was no "fatal trauma" due to the arrest, with the manner of death being ruled as unknown.
NBC has said that an autopsy obtained by the broadcaster showed Scott's cause of death to be listed as a collapsed lung.
It noted a number of conditions that likely contributed to his death, including physical restraint, methamphetamine use, asthma, emphysema and heart disease.
According to the Oklahoma Police Department, police had arrested Scott after receiving a report of a black man arguing with people while brandishing a gun.
In the footage released by the department, Scott can be seen running from officers after being asked by Tipton if he is in possession of any weapons.
Officers pursued Scott, tackling him to the ground and restraining him. That is when Scott began to warn that he could not breathe.
Police said an investigation into the incident, which was present to the Oklahoma County District Attorney's Office for review, found "nothing inappropriate on the part of the officers, nor was there evidence of any misconduct by the officers."
"Therefore, he cleared all involved officers of any criminal wrongdoing," a department spokesperson said.
The release of the footage of Scott's arrest comes in the wake of the death of George Floyd, who died after a white police officer, Derek Chauvin, kneeled on his neck for eight minutes and 46 seconds during an arrest.
Footage captured by bystanders showed Floyd repeatedly warning that he could not breathe before falling unconscious. Meanwhile, calls from bystanders urging Chauvin to remove his knee and check on Floyd's well-being were repeatedly ignored.
Floyd's death has ignited protests across the U.S. and around the world, with many demanding an end to police brutality, as well as for the U.S. and other countries to address systemic racism.
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