Marvin Scott
Marvin Scott III was inside a sprawling outlet mall in Allen last month when police searched him and allegedly found less than 2 ounces of marijuana. They arrested him and eventually took him to the local jail.
Hours later, the 26-year-old was dead.
Now, seven Collin County detention officers have been fired for their role in allegedly restraining Scott, blasting him with pepper spray and placing a [spit hood, a controversial device meant to keep a person from biting or spitting on an officer] over his head as he suffered through what his family has described as a mental health emergency. An investigation found the officers had violated policies and procedures, Collin County Sheriff Jim Skinner said Thursday.
A lawyer representing Scott’s family called for the officers to face criminal charges in the case, which the Texas Rangers are investigating.
“Marvin Scott III’s family is relieved these men have been terminated — however they are anxious to see these men arrested and held criminally accountable,” attorney Lee Merritt tweeted Thursday.
The case has sparked outrage in North Texas as Scott’s family and local activists question why he was arrested for such a small amount of marijuana — a drug soon to be fully legal in 16 states and widely decriminalized elsewhere — and why he was subject to force in jail rather than immediately taken for medical treatment.
Many police departments nationwide have stopped making arrests for small amounts of marijuana, a policy already held by several forces around Dallas and adopted by another area agency this week in the wake of Scott’s death.
Police have also faced scrutiny in their response to mental health crises, particularly after the death last year of Daniel T. Prude, a Black man who died after Rochester, New York, police restrained him and used a spit hood to cover his head.
Scott was a beloved brother and son, his family members said after his death.
“He was a gentle giant. He would do anything for anybody,” his sister, LaChay Batts, said at a news conference after his death. “Y’all really took away a good person — a really good person. He was amazing.”
Like Prude, Scott also had mental illness that frequently put him in contact with local police. Scott had been diagnosed with schizophrenia, his family said, and in the past, police had taken him to get medical care when he had a crisis.
“He had been arrested several times before where he was taken to a clinic, given his meds and then released,” Merritt said in a news conference streamed by KXAS-TV.
On March 14, Scott once again ended up in police custody, this time after he was observed acting strangely in the Allen Premium Outlets, a mall in suburban Dallas, and then allegedly found with a small amount of marijuana. Police initially took him to a hospital, Merritt said, but unlike in previous cases, they then took him to the Collin County Jail instead of a local mental health center.
He was booked into the jail around 6:40 p.m., Skinner said at a news conference. According to Merritt, he was put into a cell with eight other people, but later moved into an isolation cell. When the jail staff feared that he might hurt himself, they sent in seven officers to restrain him, Merritt said.
Video of the encounter shows one officer applying an “illegal choke hold” as the others fought to tie down his arms, Merritt alleged.
Skinner confirmed that video was taken of the struggle and said the officers used pepper spray once and restrained Scott in a bed. He declined to discuss any other details about the video recording, pending the ongoing investigation.
At 10:22 p.m., the sheriff said, Scott became unresponsive on the restraining bed. He was rushed to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
“As you might imagine, I was brokenhearted to learn that someone had died in our custody,” Skinner said later, calling his death a “tragedy.”
Seven detention officers — a captain, a lieutenant, two sergeants and three officers, none of whom have been named — were suspended while the sheriff conducted an internal investigation. On Thursday, Skinner announced that they had been fired and said an eighth officer had resigned as a result of the probe.
“Evidence I have seen confirms that these detention officers violated well-established Sheriff’s Office policies and procedures,” Skinner said in a statement shared with The Washington Post. “Everyone in Collin County deserves safe and fair treatment, including those in custody at our jail. I will not tolerate less” (Elfrink 1-2).
For the past four weeks, a group of up to 40 protesters has gathered outside the Collin County Jail nearly every night around 9 p.m. They hang signs, draw on the sidewalk with chalk and decorate the chain link fence, celebrating the life of Marvin Scott III, who died while in the custody of jail staff in March.
Consistently, their memorials have been taken down by county staff. But that doesn’t deter his sister, LaChay Batts, from returning every day with other community members outside the jail in McKinney.
“We just do it again,” Batts, 28, told the Tribune Sunday, her voice hoarse from chanting all day. “They want us to stop, to go away. We’re gonna remain until the officers are arrested.”
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Though seven of the sheriff’s officers have been fired after initially being put on administrative leave and another resigned while under investigation, the family and protesters say they don’t plan to stop until the officers have been charged with a crime. The officers' names have not been publicly released. The Collin County Sheriff’s Office, which operates the jail, said personnel information cannot be released due to pending civil service appeals.
The Texas Rangers are investigating Scott’s case. Nearly a month later, the county medical examiner’s office has not yet released an official cause of death.
The family hired a forensic pathologist to conduct a second, independent autopsy. During the March 23 press conference, the pathologist, Amy Gruszecki of American Forensics, said: “The physical struggle of the restraint as well as the possible asphyxia from the restraint would likely be causes of his death, and a negative autopsy, meaning no injuries, no blunt force trauma, is consistent with that.”
During the press conference, Merritt said the Collin County district attorney had explained that he would need a cause of death and a medical examiner’s report before he could decide whether to pursue criminal charges.
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“Today marks 30 days since Marvin was murdered, and we still haven’t seen the tape. We still don’t know the names of these officers,” [Scott’s sister Lachay] Batts said on Sunday. “[They] could be our neighbors, and we don’t know.”
For the first few nights, the protesters congregated near where inmates are brought into the jail. A week later, they arrived to find a new chain link fence surrounding their former protesting grounds, [Elizabeth] Michel [a community activist] said.
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In addition to physical barriers, Michel said that several sheriff’s office vehicles have circled the area and flashed the high beams of their headlights on the group. At one point, sheriff’s employees told protesters they were unlawfully assembled, she said.
“There’s a big sign on the fence that says designated protest,” Michel said. “I’m like, ‘You told us to be here, and now you’re telling us to move again.’”
“They definitely didn’t expect us to still be out there,” she added. “They expected this to die down and go away. And we’re not.”
[Kamona Nelson, one of LaChay Batts’ hairstyling clients] … said her family moved to McKinney more than three years ago, and she said she was shocked to hear negative things about Collin County law enforcement after hearing that the city was one of the top places to live in the state.
A few years before, in 2015, McKinney police responded to a report of teenagers scaling a fence to enter a private pool party. An officer pointed a gun at the teens and detained a Black girl by throwing her to the ground and pressing his knee into her back. She was ultimately released back to her parents with no charge filed. The incident sparked national outrage and prompted additional protests on its five-year anniversary.
Nelson said that when they first moved to McKinney, three police officers stopped one of her sons, then 15, as he walked home because he happened to fit the description of someone “tall, big and Black” that they were looking for, she said, though they eventually let him go.
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“It seems like there is a lot of injustice, as if we are doing something wrong,” she said of the way officers have treated protesters. “That, I don’t understand — why the family is being treated the way that they are.”
Batts said having Nelson and so many other community members stand with her family has given her family strength.
While the protests cannot bring Scott back, Batts said they will continue to protest “so this doesn’t have to be somebody else’s brother” (Martinez and Tauber 1-2).
The in-custody death of Marvin David Scott III, a 26-year-old Black man who was allegedly pepper-sprayed and had a spit mask placed on his face while he was held at a Texas detention facility in March, was ruled a homicide on Wednesday.
Dr. William Rohr, the medical examiner in Collin County, said Scott's death was caused by "fatal acute stress response in an individual with previously diagnosed schizophrenia during restraint struggle with law enforcement." Rohr's office said it's waiting to obtain laboratory results before publishing a final autopsy report.
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Scott's family viewed video footage of Scott's death on Wednesday. Family attorney Lee Merritt said the family viewed almost five hours of footage, adding that the footage showed "repeated opportunities" to provide aid to Scott, who he said "was clearly in a schizophrenic episode."
"Instead, he received brutality," Merritt said. "Instead, he was maced. He was assaulted, he was restrained, he was treated as someone who was being criminally non-compliant, not as someone in need of desperate help."
Merritt said the sheriff's office had records of Scott's mental health issues. At the March 19 press conference, [Sheriff] Skinner declined to comment on whether officers had known of a history of mental illness.
Scott's mother, LaSandra, described the footage as "Horrific, inhumane," and "very disheartening." The family has repeatedly called for the officers involved to be arrested.
"When I was watching this, I felt like I wanted to be there for him, but I couldn't. It was too late," another family member said. "And we ask for justice because at this point that's all we can ask for" (Albert 1).
[Paste the following on Google to watch a brief WFAA-produced news video update]
Family of Marvin Scott III view video of his final moments, react ...
Works cited:
Albert, Victoria. “In-Custody Death of Marvin David Scott III Ruled a Homicide.” CBS News, April 29, 2021. Net. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/marvin-scott-death-ruled-homicide-texas/
Elfrink, Tim. “He Died in Jail Hours after a Minor Pot Arrest. Now 7 Corrections Officers Have Been Fired.” The Texas Tribune, April 2, 2021. Net. https://www.texastribune.org/2021/04/02/texas-marvin-scott-death-collin-county/
Martinez, Marissa and Tauber, Shelby. “Marvin Scott III Died in Texas Police Custody. His Family Will Protest until the Officers Involved Are Arrested.” The Texas Tribune, April 13, 2021. Net. https://www.texastribune.org/2021/04/13/marvin-scott-jail-protests/
The alley where Adam Toledo was killed March 29 by Chicago police officers during a foot pursuit.
Officials in Chicago released body camera footage on Thursday of a police officer fatally shooting a 13-year-old boy last month, setting off protests over the use of deadly force by police in a city that has been beleaguered by violence.
The boy, Adam Toledo, who was Latino and was a seventh-grader, was one of the youngest people killed by the police in Illinois in years.
The release of the video from the March 29 shooting came during the murder trial of Derek Chauvin, one of the Minneapolis police officers charged in George Floyd’s killing last year.
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In the early-morning hours of March 29, two officers had been responding to reports of gunfire when they saw two people in an alley and started to chase them, officials said. Prosecutors have said that Adam was holding a gun when he ran down the alley as an officer called for him to stop and drop the weapon.
In the moment before the shooting, Adam can be seen holding what appears to be a gun behind his back, which he drops behind a wooden fence just before he raises his hands, according to an analysis of the police videos by The New York Times.
In one of the videos, the officer yelled at him to stop. “Stop right now!” the officer screams while cursing, telling him to drop his gun. “Hands. Show me your hands. Drop it. Drop it.”
As Adam turned and lifted his hands, the officer opened fire, striking him once in the chest. The officer can be seen administering CPR on Adam and telling him to “stay with me” as blood poured out of his mouth.
Adam, a seventh grader at Gary Elementary School, had been missing for several days before he finally returned home on the night of March 28, according to his mother, Elizabeth Toledo, who told reporters that she had even previously called the Chicago police to report him missing.
But that Sunday night, she would later tell reporters, she saw him go into the room he shared with his brother. The next day, he was gone. Ms. Toledo later heard from the police: Adam was dead.
“I just want to know what really happened to my baby,” Ms. Toledo said at a news conference on April 2, demanding transparency from law enforcement officials and expressing disbelief that Adam — who, she said, played with Legos and rode bikes with his siblings — would end up in what the police called an “armed confrontation.”
Adeena Weiss-Ortiz, a lawyer representing the Toledo family, said at a news conference on Thursday that the video showed that Adam was attempting to comply with the officer’s orders.
“He tossed the gun,” she said. “If he had a gun, he tossed it. The officer said, ‘Show me your hands.’ He complied. He turned around.”
The officer was identified in police reports as Eric E. Stillman, 34, who is white and whose lawyer said had been placed on administrative duties for 30 days.
The lawyer said that the shooting, while tragic, was justified given the nature of the threat.
“The police officer was put in this split-second situation where he has to make a decision,” said Timothy Grace, a lawyer at the firm of Grace & Thompson retained by the Fraternal Order of Police in Chicago (Vigdor 1-2).
A little after 5 a.m. CT that morning, less than three hours after the shooting, police spokesman Tom Ahern called the incident an "armed confrontation" in a tweet. He also shared a photo of the gun recovered from the scene.
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Nearly 12 hours later, a little after 4 p.m. CT, the department released an official press release removing the word "armed" from "armed confrontation," and referring to the two people involved as "two males."
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Saturday, prosecutors described what the officer's body camera footage showed, alleging Adam was holding a gun when the officer shot him.
The details were revealed during a bond hearing for Ruben Roman, 21, who was with Adam when he died. Prosecutors said shots fired by Roman while standing next to Adam set off a chain of events that led to the fatal shooting.
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After 2:30 p.m., a police watchdog agency released 17 bodycam videos, four third-party videos, a transmission from the Office of Emergency Management and Communications, two audio recordings of 911 calls, six ShotSpotter recordings, as well as response and arrest reports (Hauck 3).
The videos show the moments leading up to Stillman shooting Toledo, the shooting itself and the aftermath.
Video taken from the front door of a Little Village church shows Toledo and 21-year-old Ruben Roman walking down the street before stopping at the corner of 24th Street and Sawyer Avenue, where it appears Roman fired shots at a target that is out of view. Toledo and Roman leave, video footage shows.
Body-camera footage shows Stillman — a 10th District tactical unit officer, according to COPA — chasing Toledo through an alley, yelling at the teen to stop. Stillman catches up to Toledo, who appears to have stopped running near a gap in a fence between the alley and a church parking lot.
Video from a different angle appears to show Toledo tossing the gun behind the fence moments before he is shot.
Stillman flashes a strobe flashlight at Toledo and says, “Hands! Show me your fucking hands!”
Immediately after commanding Toledo to show his hands, Stillman shot the boy at close distance. Toledo’s hands were raised when he was shot, the footage shows.
The footage does not show Toledo point or raise a gun at Stillman at the end of the chase. Toledo does not appear to be holding the gun as the officer shot him.
Toledo collapsed into the parking lot after being shot and died at the scene. The gun was found alongside the fence behind Toledo, police said.
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“Look at me. Look at me. You all right? Where you shot?” Stillman said to Toledo, who was unresponsive. The officer lifted up Toledo’s sweatshirt to look for a wound and told the boy, “Stay with me.”
Stillman radioed for someone to bring him a medical kit. Responding officers and Stillman then began to treat the 13-year-old, performing CPR.
Stillman walked away from the scene by himself. Minutes later, a police supervisor radioed in to officers on the scene to turn off their body cameras.
Stillman has been placed on administrative duties for 30 days … (Pena, Bauer, and Ward 1-2).
There is no question we need police and no question we need policing to change. But that’s not the only change we need. In an op-ed in the Chicago Tribune on Fri., April 16, Adam Toledo’s teachers talk about how he was labeled a special ed student, isolated with a group of six others from the rest of his classmates, had a talent for art, but in an under-resourced and underfunded education system, had no art class. They noted that he painted graffiti on a wall at school and while everyone worried about how to cover it up, no one asked why he did it (Illinois 1).
[Paste the following on Google to watch the ABC 7 Chicago-produced video of the shooting].
Adam Toledo shooting video shows teen with hands up ...
Works cited:
Hauck, Grace. “Evolution of a City's Account of a Killing: How Chicago's Narrative Changed in the Fatal Police Shooting of Adam Toledo.” USA Today, April 16, 2021. Net. https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2021/04/16/adam-toledo-police-shooting-how-chicagos-narrative-changed/7260911002/
“Illinois Education Association releases statement on death of Adam Toledo.” IEA-NEA, April 16, 2021. Net. https://ieanea.org/2021/04/16/illinois-education-association-releases-statement-on-death-of-adam-toledo/
Pena, Mauricio; Bauer, Kelly; and Ward, Joe. “Video Shows Chicago Police Shooting 13-Year-Old Adam Toledo as He Raised His Hands.” Block Club Chicago, April 15, 2021. Net. https://blockclubchicago.org/2021/04/15/video-shows-chicago-police-shooting-13-year-old-adam-toledo-as-he-raised-his-hands-no-video-in-story/
Vigdor, Neil. “What To Know about the Police Shooting of Adam Toledo.” The New York Times, April 16, 2021. Net. https://web.archive.org/web/20210423121543/https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/16/us/adam-toledo-chicago-police-shooting.html
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