A man drowned in a lake in the Phoenix suburb of Tempe while avoiding an encounter with three police officers after a domestic disturbance call. All three officers have been put on leave after not rescuing the man as he pleaded for help.

The incident took place on May 28 at around 5:00 a.m. local time after police responded to reports of a verbal domestic confrontation at the Tempe Center for the Arts. In a video released on Saturday by city officials, a woman can be seen telling Tempe police that there had been no physical confrontation between her and the 34-year-old man, identified as her partner Sean Bickings.

After interviewing the couple separately, police ran a routine records check and discovered three outstanding warrants for Bickings. As the officers conversed with Bickings while running their check, he can be seen in the video leaning over the bars above Lake Tempe, saying he was going to go “for a swim.”

One of the officers can be heard telling Bickings that swimming was not allowed in the lake.

The incident soon became complicated. In the bodycam footage, Bickings can be seen swimming towards the underside of the bridge as an officer leaned over the railing, questioning aloud how far his partner thought Bickings would swim.

But as the officers walked along the bridge to monitor Bickings, the footage was cut and a transcript was shared by the city “due to the sensitive nature of the remaining portion of the recording.”

According to the transcript, Bickings appeared to be in distress, telling officers that he was going to drown. One officer, identified only as "Officer 2," replied that Bickings was not going to drown and instructed him to “go to the pylon and hold on.” Bickings continued to shout that he was drowning but the officers still did not enter the water to help him.

"I’m not jumping in after you,” an officer identified as "Officer 1," replied to Bickings after he said he could not reach the pylon.

“I can’t touch. Oh God. Please help me. Help me," Bickings continued to plead.

At some point, Bickings’ partner returned to the scene and begged officers to help him out of the water. At one point, according to the transcript, Bickings’ partner tried to jump over the railing to help Bickings but did not enter the water. She again urged police to enter the water but was told instead that a third officer would arrive with a boat.

Not long after, Bickings fell beneath the water and did not resurface. It was only hours after that the Tempe Fire Rescue Team pulled Bickings' body from the water at about 11:30 a.m., pronouncing him dead at the scene.

Initially, officials described Bickings as “uncooperative” in the rescue effort and asserted that officers “maintained contact” with him when he was in the water.

More information surrounding the incident later emerged. The three officers were soon put on “non-disciplinary paid administrative leave” after the Arizona Department of Public Safety and the Scottsdale Police Department investigated the officers’ response at the city of Tempe’s request.

Police Chief Jeff Glover issued a statement together with City Manager Andrew Ching that called Bickings' death a "tragedy."

Glover later met with Bickings' mother last week, according to the Washington Post.

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