United States: seven detention officers sacked after the death of a young black
Marvin Scott had been arrested for possession of marijuana in a shopping center in North Dallas (illustration).
AP - Tony Gutierrez
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In Texas, seven detention officers were fired and an eighth resigned following the death of Marvin Scott on March 14.
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The North Dallas Collin County Sheriff on Thursday announced the dismissal of seven custodial officers and the resignation of another implicated in the in-custody death of a young man with schizophrenia.
Marvin Scott, 26, was arrested in a shopping center for possession of several grams of marijuana, reports our correspondent in Houston,
Thomas Harms
.
First taken to hospital due to his strange behavior, he was then taken to the county jail.
There, the guards tied him to a bed, sprayed with pepper spray, and put his head in a fabric spit bag.
Marvin Scott was pronounced dead hours later.
Authorities are due to return the autopsy findings in a few weeks.
But an expert commissioned by the family concluded that he was killed by asphyxiation caused by the means of restraint used.
According to his mother, Marvin Scott had been diagnosed with schizophrenia two years earlier, but had not experienced an episode for a year.
It was not the first time that he had been arrested by the local police, but each time he had been sent to a mental hospital.
The Texas Rangers are continuing their investigation, the sheriff said.
Especially since this county has a protocol in the event of suspicion of mental illness in an arrested person.
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