METRO POLICE
Roy Scott is shown in this screen grab from video before he was handcuffed by police.
Wednesday, March 20, 2019 | 2:17 p.m.
A man died from methamphetamine intoxication after struggling with Metro Police officers earlier this month, the Clark County Coroner’s Office said today.
Paranoid schizophrenia and cardiovascular disease also played a significant role in Roy Anthony Scott’s death, the coroner said.
Scott summoned officers about 3 a.m. March 3 to an apartment complex near Valley View and Sahara Avenue, saying that men, including one who was armed, were standing outside his unit, police said.
Two officers found no evidence of the men, even when Scott yelled through the door, saying they were inside and asking the officers to kick in the door, police said.
Eventually Scott came out of his apartment, dropped a metal pipe as ordered and handed over a knife when an officer approached, police said.
In body-camera footage, Scott was apprehensive and was heard saying he suffered from paranoid schizophrenia.
When the officers, who continued to try to talk to Scott, later attempted to handcuff him, he resisted, police said.
The officers dragged Scott a short distance to keep him from hitting his head, before putting him on his side in a “recovery position” to help him breathe more easily, police said.
The officers summoned medics at 3:42 a.m. to treat a cut on Scott’s cheek, Clark County Deputy Chief Chris Jones said.
Six minutes later, they requested medics again, Jones said. By 3:55 a.m., Scott was being loaded into an ambulance. He died at the hospital at 4:38 a.m.
Jones said the officers believed Scott may have been experiencing “excited delirium,” a physical and psychological condition in which a person experiences schizophrenia, paranoia or agitation.
Investigators found a glass pipe and evidence that Scott had smoked meth, Jones said.
