7 Texas Fired After Black Man Dies While In Police Custody

On March 14, Marvin David Scott III, 26, died in police custody after he was restrained and pepper-sprayed by county jail detention officers. He had been arrested after police stated they found marijuana in his possession.

According to the New York Times, seven police officers in Collin County, Texas, were dismissed from their jobs on Thursday due to their connection with the death of Marvin D. Scott III, a 26-year-old Black man who died after being restrained at the county jail last month.

“Evidence I have seen confirms that these detention officers violated well-established Sheriff’s Office policies and procedures,” Jim Skinner, the sheriff, said in a written statement, also adding that an eighth officer had already resigned.

The forensic pathologist Amy Gruszecki, who performed a second autopsy on Scott after his body was initially examined by the Collin County medical examiner, said according to her preliminary findings, it was possible that asphyxiation, as well as a physical struggle against his restraint, might have contributed to Scott’s death.

Police officials from the Allen Police Department stated at the time, that police officers approached Scott while responding to a disturbance call at the Allen Premium Outlets. Police officers said they observed Scott acting in an erratic manner and assumed he was high on drugs. They called for assistance from paramedics from the Allen Fire Department.

Scott was taken by ambulance to Texas Health Allen Hospital, where he was in the emergency room for about three hours. He was released into police custody and processed at the Allen police headquarters holding facility and then transported and released to the custody of the Collin County Sheriff’s Office.

After being booked, officials say that Scott began to exhibit “some strange behavior” and seven police officers restrained Scott. They placed him in a bed to stabilize him and pepper-sprayed him. The officers used a “spit mask” to cover his face. Scott then became non-responsive and was taken to Baylor Scott & White McKinney Medical Center in McKinney, Texas, just north of Allen, where he was pronounced dead.