Family, friends of drowning victim Sean Bickings hold vigil May 25

Two years after his drowning, the family of Sean Bickings is still trying to hold Tempe Police accountable, hosting a candle-lit vigil for the Tempe Town Lake drowning victim to bring awareness to the lack of safety measures still at the lake.

Twenty to 30 family and friends of Bickings, including his mother and attorney Benjamin Taylor, will be hosting the vigil on Saturday, May 25, at 5 p.m. at Tempe Town Lake near Tempe Center of the Arts where Bickings drowned, according to a press release.

In May 2022, Tempe police were called to a water rescue around one minute after Bickings got into the water. According to a city transcript of the incident, one officer said, “I’m not jumping in after you," the release detailed.

Bickings’s friend Benjamin Jeffrey recalls that Bickings’ last words were “Help me, please," the release stated. Bickings drowned shortly after while officers stood by.

In a media statement, the Bickings family and representative wrote, “Two years after Sean Bickings's tragic death, the city of Tempe and the Tempe police still have not added enough safety precautions to Tempe Town Lake. Other people have fallen in the lake and drowned since Sean Bickings's death. We need to see more improvements to minimize the incidents at the lake. Sean Bickings’s tragic death lit a fire for Bickings’s family and they will continue their tireless efforts to push the city of Tempe to do more."