The family of a Texas man, Marvin Scott III, 26, who died March 14 while in police custody, is calling for the arrest of seven officers involved in his arrest, News One reported.
Relatives said the arrest occurred after they placed a call for help because Scott experienced a mental health crisis. He was diagnosed with schizophrenia. The man had been controlling his mental illness with medication, and it was the first time in a year that he had a crisis.
Scott was initially taken to a hospital but later released and arrested for marijuana possession. The family said they were not given an explanation as to why the change had occurred.
Officers said Scott “exhibited some strange behavior” at which point they attempted to subdue him by strapping him to a restraint bed using pepper spray and spit hood. Scott then became unresponsive and died.
In a Friday press conference, the Colin County Sherriff’s office responded to the incident.
“The family is upset. The community is upset. I’m upset,” Sherriff Jim Skinner said. “The death of this young man is a profound tragedy, and we have an obligation to uncover the full and complete truth … and that’s exactly what the Texas Rangers and my internal affairs investigators are doing at this moment.”
The family, uninformed of the Sherriff’s Office’s press conference, later gave one of their own.
Attorney for the family, S. Lee Merritt, called for transparency in the press conference as reported by The Dallas Morning News. He said that the officers should have known Scott had mental health issues as he had a documented history of arrests related to such crises.
“When officers are aware of [someone’s mental health history], they’re supposed to take certain precautions,” Merritt said. “They were not taken here, and they’re often not taken, and it results in unnecessary death.”
Merritt claims the officers excessive force abuses of Scott included kneeling on him to restrain him and placing a finger on a pressure point under the jawbone while holding his head in an upward position.
“Kneeling on someone until they stop moving is something that, foreseeably, could lead to their death.”
Merritt says the he will be with the family at the sheriff’s office “every night at 9 until they bring in the seven men who murdered Marvin Scott III.”
According to News One, two separate investigations are ongoing in this case – one by the Texas Rangers and another by Colin County Sherriff’s Department.
