The Reprehensible Murder of Marvin Scott
The Sheriff’s Department in Collin County, Texas is going through some things. The murder of Marvin D. Scott, III while in the care of law enforcement continues to showcase how truly problematic the sheriff’s department is. In mid-March, police officers from the city of Allen arrested Mr. Scott for possession of less than two ounces of marijuana (really?) and because he was murmuring to himself. Mr. Scott suffered from schizophrenia and, given what happened, I’ll let you figure out his race. Instead of providing Mr. Scott with the help he needed, Allen PD took him to the Collin County Detention Center. Mr. Scott was still exhibiting signs of mental illness and, in response, officials used pepper spray, a taser, and chokeholds to restrain him. They also knelt on him and placed a spit mask over his face. Within four hours of his arrival at the center, Mr. Scott was dead.
Mr. Scott’s family has been treated shamefully. They weren’t notified of his death until three hours after he died and received the news by TEXT from the medical examiner. Can you imagine? The coldness of being informed of a loved one’s death via text takes my breath away. To add insult to injury, they don’t even know how he died since the video relating to Mr. Scott’s death hasn’t been released to the family. It will not be until the investigation, which Sheriff Skinner turned over to the Texas Rangers, is…
