7 Officers Fired After in-Custody Death of Black Man Marvin Scott With 2 Ounces of Pot

PLANO, TX – The Collin County Sheriff’s Office has fired seven detention officers involved in the death of 26-year-old Marvin Scott III. Police arrested Scott on March 14 and charged him with possessing less than two ounces of marijuana, a class B misdemeanor. He died in police custody that same day.

After being arrested in the parking lot of an Allen, Texas outlet mall for smoking marijuana, police found him “incoherent,” according to Scott family attorney, Lee Merritt. Police then took Scott to the Texas Health Presbyterian hospital nearby. There, doctors found him fit for incarceration, WFAA reported.

Once inside the Collin County jail, Scott underwent several mental health episodes related to his schizophrenia, Merritt said. Schizophrenia is a condition that can negatively distort a person’s thoughts, emotions, behaviors and perception of reality.

As officers tried to restrain Scott to his cell bed, they used pepper spray and a spit hood on him, a head covering which covers the eyes, nose and mouth. He died later that day. An initial autopsy said his death might’ve been heart-related, but his family plans on hiring an independent forensic examiner to see.

Although body and jail cameras captured the incidents leading to his death, the sheriff’s office turned the footage over to the Texas Rangers, the state’s investigative bureau. The footage hasn’t been publicly released.