RIVERVIEW, FL – Officials recently released bodycam footage of a deputy-involved shooting that proved fatal for the suspect on December 8th in Riverview.
Sadly, the deputy on video begged the suspect not to make any moves toward his waistband, after the suspect told deputies he was armed.
As it turns out, the suspect had conveyed sentiments months prior to the shooting about wanting to commit “suicide by cop,” and the gun he proclaimed to have on camera with deputies, wound up not being on him or in his truck.
Here are the details on this sad case.
At roughly 10:08 p.m. that evening, Hillsborough County Sheriff’s deputies happened upon 27-year-old Dylan Ray Scott, who had active warrants for grand theft and resisting arrest.
Deputies approached the suspect while he was inside his parked truck at the McDonald’s located at 11007 Bloomingdale Avenue in Riverview.
Hillsborough Sheriff’s Deputy Timothy Miskell approached the driver’s side door and ordered Scott to exit the vehicle. Instead of following orders, Scott put the truck into gear and drove into traffic, causing a collision with another vehicle.
Deputies tended to the driver who collided with Scott’s truck, while Deputy Miskell made his way into the road and confronted Scott once again.
A verbal exchange ensued from there, with Deputy Miskell doing most of the talking. Scott told deputies at the scene that he was armed and carrying his gun along his waistband.
The captured bodycam footage showed Deputy Miskell pleading with Scott for literally minutes:
“We do not take anything personally and I do not want to shoot you, but if you don’t show me your hands, that’s what’s gonna happen. Put your hands up. Please don’t make me do this.”
Over and over, Deputy Miskell pleaded with Scott, informing him that his warrants were not that big of a deal and he could likely bond out the next day.
Yet all the while, Scott just seemed to just look back and forth between deputies positioned on both sides of the truck.
The pleading from Deputy Miskell continued:
“Listen to my voice. I don’t wanna (sic) do this and it’s not worth it. The warrants that you have right now, you’ll get a bond. But if you make a bad decision now, it could cost you your life. And I’m begging you to not make that choice.”
At roughly the four-minute mark of the released footage, Deputy Miskell’s voice begins to crack when speaking with Scott:
“Don’t reach. Don’t do it. C’mon man? Please don’t. Please don’t. Show me…put your – whatever you’ve got in your hand, drop it, okay? Drop it.”
It was 13 seconds after those commands by Deputy Miskell that Scott appeared to quickly move toward the driver’s side door in a sudden and aggressive manner.
Four deputies opened fire on Scott, resulting in the suspect later being pronounced deceased after being transferred to Tampa General Hospital.
According to a statement from Sheriff Chad Chronister, the attempts by his deputies were a “textbook job” in relation to trying to get Scott to comply with commands:
“These deputies did a textbook job of trying to get this suspect to surrender himself. They pleaded with him to show his hands, stopping short of begging him not to reach for the firearm he repeatedly said he had.
“There is no perfect outcome in situations like this, but I am thankful that none of our deputies were hurt and that we were able to keep innocent citizens on the roadway safe as this situation unfolded.”
Scott had reportedly written a note to his mother earlier this year, expressing that he wanted to “die via suicide by cop.”
Eugene O’Donnell, a professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice and a former NYPD officer, stated that the deputies involved will be painted poorly by their critics no matter what the video evidence shows here:
“No matter what videos like these show, there will still be people who will just call him a ‘killer cop’. Especially in this unforgiving climate, officers like this just get unfairly branded, and even ten years from now, it will be used against them if they are ever again made to use deadly force.”
All four deputies involved have been placed on administrative leave pending an investigation into the shooting, according to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.