A McKinney, Texas police officer has been suspended pending review after the posting of a videotape where he draws his gun and manhandles a group of teenagers outside of a pool party. The officer has been identified as Cpl. Eric Casebolt and he is shown being verbally and physically abusive toward young people who are not clearly doing anything unlawful.
The pulling out of the gun is a rapid escalation in a call over a dispute between a mother and a girl at the party. The McKinney Police Department’s Facebook page states that officers responded to a “disturbance” at the Craig Ranch North community pool at 7:15 p.m. It added that the juveniles at the scene “do not live in the area or have permission to be there.” It further says that people failed to respond to orders and officers struggled to “gain control of the situation.”
Casebolt,40, is a 10-year-veteran and serves as a vice president of McKinney’s police union. He received an award for “Patrolman of the Year” in 2008. The Washington Post reports that he is an instructor at Executive Self-Defense and Fitness and has a website that heralds his “ strong working knowledge of human behavior” and “experience in the use of all levels of force.” As is often the case, people have collected various pictures of Casebolt though the one dressed as an Indian chief at a party seems to be the favorite. That is part of the reality of the world of social media today.
Do you consider this level of force to be justified?
Darren’s viewpoint is once again a rational, reasonable island as the thread devolves.
“It seems in my view there is cause to suspend this officer from duty pending the outcome of an investigation. I don’t know what the outcome will be but I don’t imagine it going well for him.”
So let the system work and put out those torches before more innocent people get hurt like in Ferguson, Baltimore, et al.
This is another one of those stories that takes on a life of its own. The racial slur was not the “n” word, according to this girl’s eyewitness testimony. It was “go back to Section 8.” And then she alleges that after getting into a verbal argument, an adult woman slapped her.
Apparently, there were fights between teenagers, and two adult women were slapping each other. The police were called in to break it up.
I cannot watch the entire video above because of the restrictions on my satellite internet use. People have described it as a cop over-reacting, handling a girl too roughly, and pulling his gun in a completely inappropriate manner. If I was the mother of the girl who was handled so roughly, or the girl who was slapped, I would be furious and demand a thorough investigation.
Already, this is becoming fuel to the race war activists. Perhaps one of the multiple fights started with a racist comment, but we have NO IDEA yet if the cop was racist.
I will say this again for those who have trouble with this concept: We need to have a thorough investigation. If the officer acted inappropriately, then he should be punished according to the rules of his police department and the law. If the officer is subjected to a thorough investigation and a just, and fair outcome, then there is no story. If the system works as its supposed to then what’s the complaint?
What do you think the chances are that this will turn into demonstrations, riots, looting, and justification for widespread retaliation crimes? Well, maybe not as high because this is TX and I can’t see business owners just sitting there while their stores burn to the ground and people poke holes in fire hoses. But if there is widespread unrest before the investigation is even completed then people aren’t looking for justice; they’re just looking for a good vacation in anarchy.
http://www.buzzfeed.com/davidmack/texas-police-officer-suspended-after-pulling-weapon-on-teens#.jugjO4gaRp
This is why we can’t have nice things.
That link above didn’t work, here is the news story and video. The girl who was being manhandled by the cop tells her side of the story.
http://thegrio.com/2015/06/08/mckinney-officer-young-girl-braids-pool-party/
Fox4News.com | Dallas-Fort Worth News, Weather, Sports
Without going into the particulars of what led up to this incident I will assume that the police department was investigating a crime and had the authority to detain.
It is important to set up perimeters at times however I personally did not see the need for this since it was at worst just a bunch of teens running about. Though at this level it appears the officers are trying to sort out some of the actors from the non-actors. That I suspect was the reason for having several of the youth sit down. In that situation it is not workable to have others milling around and should be told to stand away from this immediate area.
The subject officer in this video in my view lost control of himself after he engaged in the foot pursuit. He can establish a perimeter if he chooses but he again let his anger dictate his actions instead of those needed for procedural purposes. It is important to recognize that this is not a hot scene such as one where an actual riot or major crime took place. At worst it was over an alleged minor altercation and some trespassing which was not serious in nature. I believe the officer took an approach as if it was a danger scenario for which it was not. My view is one view on how to handle the perimeter aspect and it could be used in others’ decision to do so. This is just a matter of approach and not a pressing matter.
It is important as officers not to escalate the situation which he obviously did. The use of force against the girl was unjustified in my opinion, not only unjustified but significantly too heavy handed. Doing this type of action turns crowds against you and that is exactly what happened.
For the drawing of the pistol it was unnecessary. If it was a situation where the officer was actually being physically attacked by multiple individuals the drawing of the pistol can be considered a proper use of force. Other than the two men rushing up to him they do rather quickly retreat and were not threatening him when he drew his pistol from the holster.
It seems in my view there is cause to suspend this officer from duty pending the outcome of an investigation. I don’t know what the outcome will be but I don’t imagine it going well for him.
bigfatmaike
Orders to immediately disburse, which are ignored or answered within a refusal to do so, given that there had previously been some sort of altercation, changes the situation. Your opinion, offered up while sitting in your comfy Lazy Boy chair, as to what is or was not justified by the police, is meaningless. You don’t have sufficient facts to determine what was proper/improper. The video, again, only gives one a sliver of what transpired. I know, don’t let facts get in the way of your narrative. The police have no way of knowing whether any of these individuals are armed, and direct orders, to leave the area were being ignored by some. That’s what I witnessed. There is, obviously, much more than what was revealed on the tape.
“The video, again, only gives one a sliver of what transpired. I know, don’t let facts get in the way of your narrative.”
The important point, for those of us who actually care about facts, is whether the sliver on the video shows the citizen resisting when the officer applies force.
If the citizen is not resisting then there is no legal justification for the application of force. That is a fact. It is a fact regardless of whether the citizen previously committed a crime, or ignored a lawful order, or disrespected the officer.
Officers have no authority to mete out rough justice and use force to punish citizens. That is a fact. If the citizen is not resisting then the officer only has the authority to detain or arrest the citizen – and then only under certain well defined circumstances.
Your seem to claim that what happened long before the officer applies force can be used to justify the application of force. That is not a fact.
Committing a crime, disobeying a lawful order, or dis respecting an officer are not justification for the application of force. Only resistance at the time the citizen is detained or arrested can justify the use of force. That is a fact.
Sometimes videos show clearly there is no resistance by the citizen at the time of arrest. Sometimes the videos show citizens being beaten despite the fact they are not resisting. Those situations, when they occur, are crimes committed by the officer.
That is a fact, bam bam. Get used to it.
Well, it is difficult to have that many black kids around without having some kind of mess going on. Even the black kids who aren’t feral, sometimes act that way to get what they want. I pity the poor cops who have to handle this kind of stuff.
The reality is, that too many blacks spoil at any site tends to destroy the place. A prime example is nightclubs. If you have a few blacks show up, there is no problem and everybody, black, white, and whatever can get along. But, if too many blacks show up at a night club, the atmosphere deteriorates in a hurry. The club has to hire more bouncers, and the white folks stop showing up because they are just out to have fun, not worry about a bunch of thugs. And, blacks are notorious cheapskates. They will nurse a beer for an hour, and not even think about leaving a tip. That is why many clubs start playing country music.
This is all sad, but true. Even the white liberal progressive types put their kids in private schools to keep them away from the crap. Just nobody wants to admit it.
Squeeky Fromm
Girl Reporter
Aridog – you’re right, the crime may have been a fight. So when the police arrive you break up the fight (if the fight was going on at that moment). You don’t run after all the black kids and leave the white folk looking like they are sitting in the bleachers of the Colosseum. I stand by my (snap) judgement that the police (particularly the one in question) escalated the situation. Honestly the way the police were running after kids I thought it looked like when I was a kid and 20 of us kids played hide and seek. What was all that running proving?
Paul said…
What potential crime was committed?
Answer: “a few people fighting” with an audience. What would you have the police do, sit down and referee the match?
What was the initial fight about?
I acknowledge that not everyone wholesale condemns police, but it is still all to common today for the most noisy identity folks to do so. How does that improve the community? What inspires a bunch of kids to jump in when it all likely hood the first police to arrive simply said “break it up?” Do you believe two guys moving threateningly toward an officer in uniform is a gesture of peace? Of reconciliation? What does it imply? Would the whole mess have been ameliorated if the kids just stood down upon arrival of the police…and explained the prejudice of one or two neighbors that caused the mess in the first place and let the police deal with them? That might have remedied something, the actual response did not. We now have images of bad cops, yada yada, and the bigots responsible for the problem, and the call to police, went home quite satisfied. Yessir, they showed ’em!
Correction: Where I said (incomplete sentence) In short, he had…. I meant to write In short, he had some presence of mind and re-holstered his sidearm.
BamBam – …”proceed forward with the wholesale condemnation of the police…” Who is making a “wholesale condemnation of the police?”
I am pretty sure about everyone on this thread that talks about bad cops talks about the few that spoil it for the majority. They routinely lament why the few bad cops are not properly disciplined, thus saving lives, money, and increasing the overall respect for police everywhere. Yes, I will make a snap judgment based on this video that the cop that pulled his gun escalated the situation significantly. The action of his fellow officers that appear to get him to quickly put the gun away would support my opinion (in my opinion).
I’ll guess here that when the cops arrived they turned a mildly bad situation ( a few people fighting, lots of people mostly in swimsuits watching), into a near riot. What potential crime was committed (prior to the cops arriving) that would warrant giving any of these kids a criminal record?
Quick question for bambam, are you the guy that was referred to in yesterdays Dilbert comic?
I’d note that the officer who pulled his side arm also re-holstered it fairly quickly. In short, he had As for police demeaning themselves, no, it is when the local citizenry demean the police that the breakdown occurs. Mock the police often enough and soon you will have no real police presence. That won’t be the wonderland some think it would be. Check out NYC and Baltimore. Been there, done that, in Detroit in the late 70’s and early 80’s….nothing good came of it. When a police presence in blue with a badge doesn’t mean everyone stand down, soon no one will. I acknowledge I grew up in a different time, but back then it didn’t take a crowd of officers to stop anything, or even settle anything down, one or two was enough. What changed? Why?
I also acknowledge that there appears to be local prejudice that instigated the initial dust up…and those who fomented that should be the ones arrested, IMO….but have we gone to far now excoriating police to expect that?
What evidence of racism has been presented other than the obvious references to color by contributors here?
Wadewilliams
The fact that you don’t personally recall police officers being referred to as pigs, in various threads, doesn’t mean that the use of that term hasn’t been conveniently, or inconveniently, forgotten by you.
Of course this is a place to reveal our opinions, but opinions should be based upon facts. Just spouting off that this police officer is wrong, without any clue as to what transpired prior to the video, is wrong. A news bulletin? At least a news bulletin contains some facts upon which to base an opinion. I know, I know, those pesky things called facts! Who needs them when it’s so much fun to just rail, confined to no boundaries called facts, against the evil police!
” Just spouting off that this police officer is wrong, without any clue as to what transpired prior to the video, is wrong.”
Not necessarily. Not by a long shot. The use of force, especially the use of deadly force is justified or not by what is happening at the time force is applied.
Officers have no authority to mete out rough justice. Officers have no authority to punish someone because the citizen disobeyed a lawful order, or dis-respected the officer.
Offices can only use the force necessary – necessary – to control the situation or take the citizen into custody.
Videos may not show us the entire situation so that we can make a judgment whether the citizen committed a crime. But many videos provide ample evidence of whether the citizen was resisting or being abused by over zealous officers.
Unnecessary force is bad police work that makes it worse for fellow officers and citizens. We all need to identify and hold accountable officers who use excessive force.
BamBam, did you look at the link I posted? It shows the altercation between two white women and a black teen girl. I have no animosity to police who do their job as they are supposed to. Why should citizens not be outraged at abusive behavior by police who are NOT doing their job correctly?
http://www.buzzfeed.com/davidmack/texas-police-officer-suspended-after-pulling-weapon-on-teens#.tsVMOvK5P
MUCH more information here. Including a video that shows the original altercation between two white female adults with black teens.
I saw a comment about pigs earlier, but it has apparently been deleted. It was something like “this is what we should expect from pigs,” or “cops are pigs, what do we expect,” or “oh well, cops are pigs” or something along those lines.
bam bam
Sorry, I was not precise enough. Has anyone on this thread referred to the cops as pigs?
Additionally, it should be noted that most everyone is here to express their respective biases. This should not be a news bulletin.
But again – I don’t think pigs have been mentioned on this thread – except for the person who objects to its use.
Wadewilliams
Yes, I often see police officers referred to to as pigs and scum of the earth on these threads pertaining to police officers. Some are eventually deleted, but check out Anarchist 2.0 on the thread regarding the trooper that died as a result of the car accident with a deer. His previous, more disgusting comments, applauding the death, were deleted. His later comment, which included that police are the scum of the earth, was allowed to stay. Just one example. There are certain contributors that continually express their respective biases with regard to the police. Not just my imagination. When trooperyork or pogo make mention of it, they are ridiculed and lambasted. It’s in evidence, again, here, where many are in a rush to judge the police as villains, even before any confirmed facts are known.