(DECATUR, Ala.) — An Alabama man died on Tuesday, a week after he was shocked with a stun gun while being arrested, according to a statement from the Decatur Police Department.
Authorities released a nearly-30-minute video from body camera footage of John Scott Jr.’s arrest on the evening of April 15 outside of his mother’s home in Decatur. In a statement last week, authorities said they received a call about concerns over Scott’s
When officers arrived that evening, body camera footage shows a cordial conversation between Scott and the officers. Scott asks officers their names and shakes their hands.
At one point, Scott, who is sweating profusely, appears agitated and uneasy as five officers stand near him telling him to either enter the ambulance or he will be detained by police. Scott refuses to enter an ambulance called to the scene after officers spend about 15 minutes telling him that he needs to receive medical treatment.
Police then proceed to handcuff Scott after he refuses to enter the ambulance. As he resists, it appears that a stun gun is deployed and officers strike him near the head as they attempt to cuff his hands behind his back.
Scott says that he can’t breathe a few times as officers hold him down. After police handcuff Scott and attempt to put him in the police vehicle, he appears to continue to keep struggling. What sounds like spitting can be heard in the footage. One of the officers claims that Scott spit on him in the video. A spit-hood appears to be placed over Scott’s head.
The police department said in a statement last week that officers made a visit earlier that day to the same location after receiving a call that Scott had taken his mother’s cell phone. Scott returned the cell phone before the officers arrived, according to police. Once law enforcement reached the location, Scott’s mother indicated that her son might not be taking his medication and was having a “mental breakdown”, according to authorities.
Lee Merritt, Scott’s family attorney, told ABC News in an interview on Thursday that Scott took medications for schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.
Officers believed that Scott exhibited signs of using “illicit substances,” according to a statement from law enforcement last week, but a mental health liaison was called to the scene and determined that Scott was not “an imminent threat of harm to himself or others and did not meet criteria for forced hospitalization,” according to a police statement last week.
It was a second 911 call that day that ended in Scott’s arrest, according to a statement from police last week. When Scott was taken to the Morgan County Jail, it was difficult to place him in a cell due to his “size” and “passive resistance,” according to a follow-up statement from police on Tuesday.
After over an hour in his cell, jail staff noticed Scott exhibited signs of medical distress and he was transported to Decatur Morgan Hospital in an ambulance, according to the Tuesday statement.
Merritt told ABC News that Scott was foaming from his mouth in his cell when inmates notified police of his condition. Scott died after a week in the hospital with no pre-existing physical conditions, according to Merritt. The family will conduct an independent autopsy and are still not aware of his exact cause of death, according to Merritt.
The Morgan County Coroner told ABC News over the phone on Thursday that Scott’s autopsy was completed that day, but he could not release the findings because of the ongoing investigation. The oficial said that the autopsy report could take another two months to be completed after test results are finished.
In a statement last week, the Decatur Police Department said that Scott had an active warrant issued by Morgan County, but Merritt told ABC News that the warrant was for a misdemeanor traffic incident, which he said did not make an arrest necessary.
The Decatur Police Department said in the Tuesday statement that officials have made a request to the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency and the FBI for assistance with the investigation into Scott’s death.
“The FBI is aware of the death of John Scott, Jr. and takes allegations of federal law violations seriously,” the agency told ABC News in a statement on Wednesday. “The FBI reviews allegations of criminal conduct and conducts further investigation if there is evidence of a potential violation of federal law.”
Merritt told ABC News that the Morgan County Sheriff’s Office will take over the investigation and the family plans to file a lawsuit within 30 days of Scott’s death.
The sheriff’s office did not immediately return ABC News’ request for a statement.
Merritt told ABC News that he also represents the family of Steve Perkins, another Black man who died after an altercation with Decatur police. Perkins was shot and died on Sept. 29, according to Huntsville, Alabama, ABC affiliate WAAY. One former officer has been charged in his death.
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