MCKINNEY (WBAP/KLIF)- The family of Marvin Scott III, who died in Collin County Jail custody, continues to fight for justice.
The video of the incident was recently made public, something the family has wanted for a long time.
Marvin’s mother, LaSandra Scott said the public needed to see how her son was mistreated and believes the grand jury must have not had enough evidence presented to them when making the decision to drop the charges against the jailers.
“The fact that the jury saw no crime was committed, there is something wrong with the system. Something is absolutely wrong with the system. My son was killed by these individuals. He was murdered,” said Scott.
Scott calls it a “cascade of failures”. She said her son should have been sent to a mental health facility, not to jail and the jailers shouldn’t have used such excessive force.
“He was smothered to death. He suffered. Unacceptable,” said Scott. “Even a dog wouldn’t have survived the brutality that went on, on that faulty bed, pepper sprayed, spit mask and the way he was handled.”
The family and legal team are in the process of appealing and meeting with the U.S Justice Department, FBI and the U.S. Attorney’s office.
They hope the jailers will be held accountable taking this case to the federal level.
“There were thousands of opportunities to save Marvin’s life here,” said the family’s lawyer Lee Merritt. “The Governor has said we are in a mental health crisis. If there’s another solution for these kinds of encounters than law enforcement. He could have been taken to a mental health treatment facility.”
The Collin County Medical Examiner, Dr. William Rohr, said Scott’s cause of death was “fatal acute stress response in an individual with previously diagnosed schizophrenia during restraint struggle with law enforcement.” The manner of death is listed as homicide.
Scott had been arrested in an Allen parking lot on a marijuana charge. Collin County Sheriff Jim Skinner said Scott was restrained and detention Officers placed a spit hood on him after he began to act strange during the booking process. Seven detention Officers were later fired and one Officer resigned
Merritt thanked Sheriff Skinner for his dedication to get this video released as fast as possible and his efforts to hold the officer’s accountable.
