Officers had no training or gear to save drowning man, Arizona police union says

Three police officers who watched as a man who swam away from them in Tempe Town Lake drowned lacked the training or equipment to save him, the Tempe Officers Association said.

Sean Bickings, 34, drowned in the lake on May 28 while the officers urged him to swim to a pylon but did not intervene beyond calling for a boat, McClatchy News reported.

In a statement, the Tempe Officers Association called the incident “a human tragedy” and expressed “deep sympathy” to his family.

“No one wanted this incident to end as it did,” the union said. But the officers responded in line with their training, which advised them to call for a boat, the statement said.

Tempe police have no training or equipment specifically for water rescues, the union said.

“Attempting such a high-risk rescue could easily result in the death of the person in the water and the officer, who could be pulled down by a struggling adult,” the union said.

The union has now vowed to work with the city to provide training and gear to officers “to ensure that such an incident never happens again.”

The statement also said police had no reason to detain Bickings before he swam out into the lake, as some have suggested they should have done.

“Swimming in Tempe Town Lake is a civil violation, not a criminal offense,” the union said. “Violators receive a ticket; they are not arrested.”

Police initially contacted Bickings and his wife at 5 a.m. local time after reports of a fight near the lake, McClatchy News reported. They denied any altercation and were not arrested.

After police told the couple they would check their names for warrants, Bickings climbed over a 4-foot railing and swam 30 to 40 yards into the artificial lake.

He began to struggle and an officer asked him, “So what’s your plan right now?” according to a partial transcript released by Tempe police.

“I’m going to drown. I’m going to drown,” Bickings says in the transcript.

“I’m not jumping in after you,” an officer tells the man, advising him to swim to a nearby pylon.

“Please help me,” Bickings begs, according to the transcript. “Please please please.”

His wife pleads for officers to save Bickings while they discuss calling for a boat. They tell her to call for Bickings to swim to safety as she becomes increasingly upset.

An officer tells her that if she doesn’t calm down, he’ll lock her in his patrol car.

“I’m just distraught because he’s drowning right in front of you and you won’t help,” she says. The officers continued arguing with her after Bickings went under, the transcript shows.

His body was later recovered from the lake.

The three officers involved are on non-disciplinary suspension as outside investigations by Scottsdale police and the Arizona Department of Public Safety continue, city officials said.

Tempe is a city of 180,000 people southeast of Phoenix.

This story was originally published June 7, 2022 at 9:58 AM with the headline "Officers had no training or gear to save drowning man, Arizona police union says."