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?
I just saw an interview with Benet Embry, an African American person who lives in the neighborhood, and witnessed the arrest. He said there were about 130 kids there, and only about 7 ruined it for everyone. He said the invitation went viral, and people were jumping the fence trying to get into the pool, cursing out the security guard. He saw kids refusing to leave, even when ordered to do so by the police. He said it’s absurd to read on the internet that they didn’t want black kids in the pool. He said black kids live there and use the pool all the time. He said that “This is not Ferguson, this is not Baltimore, Trayvon Martin . . . this is an out of control pool party.” He said it’s a “great community with nobody walking around with hooded sheets or burning crosses.”
“As far as the officer’s actions . . . it did disturb me” that an African American 14 year old girl was on the ground.
Again, this is just another perspective from an interview, so we need to find out all we can in an investigation. But this story is getting a life of its own on the Internet, with wild stories like no black kids are welcome in the pool, the cops are all racist, etc. from people who “just know.”
… “I was one of the only white people in the area when that was happening. You can see in part of the video where he tells us to sit down, and he kinda like skips over me and tells all my African-American friends to go sit down.”
… “I think she was quote unquote running her mouth, and she has freedom of speech and that was very uncalled for him to throw her to the ground,” Brooks said. “When he pulled his gun my heart dropped. As soon as he pulled out his gun, I thought he was going to shoot that kid. That was very scary.”
15-Year-Old Who Shot McKinney Pool Party Video Speaks Out
http://cw33.com/2015/06/08/15-year-old-who-shot-mckinney-pool-party-video-speaks-out/
I loved the Action Man dive and roll. Awesome! Wish the guy would have been grunting “hut, hut, hut….”
What I loved more is that long moment, when Action Man is kneeling on the little girl, surveying the crowd gathered around him, and his gaze goes just a little blank–I’m willing to bet that’s his moment of realization that he’s just become internationally famous. He looks almost confused, but then snaps out of it when the other officers return with the kids Action Man menaced with his 9mm.
It still baffles me that LEOs haven’t yet figured out that escalation=scrutiny, and that the rules have changed. Witnesses are generating tangible evidence, and eventually a court somewhere is going to actually find one of these guys guilty and start an avalanche of terminations and convictions.
Sadly, in the meantime, these videos and the outrage around them are just drops in the slow-filling bucket–insignificant by themselves. We know how this is going to go–he’ll be disciplined and forced to attend a training course taught by one of his peers, and that will be the end of it. He may get a punitive suspension–a week, maybe even two–which his police union will dicker down to 3 days and a loss of a few vacation days.
Finally, given the current climate, I don’t see how cops are going to be able to keep regarding flight as an indicator of guilt–my kids and their friends, mostly white middle class kids in a very tolerant and diverse rural university community, are wary of police. Most of them don’t really get the race-hate thing, if for no other reason than a lot of the non-white kids have parents who are academics or medical professionals, and the gangster stereotype isn’t relevant here–unless you’re watching TV. When these kids look at cop violence on youtube they identify with the brown and black kids, not the white cops.
I sit here now and wonder: what town is going to burn next? It’s only a matter of time until another baby is killed while she sleeps, or another old woman is shot through her door, or another young person is dragged from his or her car and battered with clubs for being a wise-ass minority who doesn’t know his or her place.
JunkChuck – there were a lot of videos out there that are NOT being shown, The residents are VERY happy that the cops showed up. One thing we have learned about eye-witness testimony is that it is often wrong. In this case it is centered on the officer, not on the party that was or was not breaking up.
It is clear from the video that many of the kids are doing exactly what the cop demands. Sitting on the sidewalk, laying on the lawn, sitting on the curb, etc. The cop was gaining control of the situation. You can clearly see the girl in the bikini strolling through the people on the ground just like she doesn’t have to listen to anyone. She is lucky he didn’t tackle her on the concrete.
@ bam bam
1, June 9, 2015 at 12:08 am
“The crowd with pitchforks and torches claims that an investigation is, of course, necessary, yet, at the same time, its double-speaking members unabashedly preemptively conclude that an investigation will yield no further information to the situation. Their minds are closed.”
OK, you’ve convinced me that it’s too subtle a notion for you to grasp that regardless of what ADDITIONAL information may be brought to light by one or more investigations, the documentation of Casebolt’s brutal behavior won’t be, CAN’T be abrogated by that additional information.
In my earlier posts, I thought it was too obvious to even merit mentioning that one or more investigations (by the McKinney Police Department, plaintiffs’ attorneys, the news media, etc.) into Casebolt’s behavior would most certainly ensue after the video was made public, but apparently it wasn’t that obvious to you, or that obvious to you that it would be obvious to anyone over the age of 10.
It is equally obvious to me that you are in denial regarding what the video shows, assuming you’ve even watched it, and that’s a personal problem you’re going to have to deal with without any further encouragement from me.
Ken Rogers – you have clearly prejudged this case. Hopefully the investigations is going to take the viewpoints of a lot of people.
Poor Darren. Now the inmates are turning on him. Lol! I’m sorry. Probably shouldn’t be laughing. Hysterical. What did he do wrong? I think it’s something related to nuclear bombs. Lol! Is he at that, AGAIN?
Me, too, Bam Bam. Who would have thought such a reasonable position would be divisive? It seems so basic. And I have concerns about rushing to judgement that the police were racially motivated.
Even the minority majority Baltimore PD are accused of being racist, under investigation by the DOJ.
We’re trending in a very concerning direction.
Karen S
My comments, throughout this entire thread, have been the same: let’s allow the facts to be revealed and not demonize this officer. No references, on my part, to race or snide remarks about blacks. I don’t see this as a racial issue, but there are some on here who, apparently, do. My insistence on withholding judgment, until more has been discovered by investigators, has some wackos on here up in arms. Frightening individuals. Never thought I’d see the day when a mention of not rushing to judgment, with regard to law enforcement, would garner such intense hostility. You have to wonder what life must be like with these individuals on a daily basis. I shudder to think of it.
bam bam – gotta find humor when all reason fails.
Do you think they get the irony that this is going on in a legal blog?
TJustice – now that’s just ridiculous. Darren has condemned officer misconduct many times on this blog. Don’t go after Darren. He’s one of the few voices of calm reason here.
I, on the other hand, am working on an avant guard interpretive dance entitled, “Wait for an Investigation Before you Riot”. Since it has implications to the mob justice in the Middle East, it will be set to various Middle Eastern music, based heavily on the tabla.
Casting starts tomorrow.
🙂
randyjet:
You had me until this part:
“I wish that you were not so gullible as to the “horror” stories manufactured ex post facto to justify illegal actions on the part of the cop. I was wondering what CRIME the girl in the bikini could have committed as she was leaving the scene as the COP TOLD HER to do.”
What part of “I have grave concerns about this cop’s actions” makes me “gullible as to the ‘horror’ stories manufactured ex post facto”? Upthread I also remarked that if I had been that girl’s mother, I would have been furious and demanded an investigation. Perhaps some, all, or none of the cop’s actions will be exonerated. I have no idea yet. I also have concerns about the underage host’s mother’s involvement in such an event. But, again, I would not throw her under the bus until I find out more. Sure, it looks bad for a mother to help her underage daughter throw a party that allegedly did not have the necessary permits, and ended up having alcohol and marijuana. But maybe they were just planning on having sodas and ice cream, and it got out of hand.
I have remarked that there are allegations against literally everyone involved, including the police officer, so we need an investigation to find out what really happened. For all I know, the FB, Twitter, etc posts purported to be from eye witnesses might be from people who weren’t even there.
Darren Smith, with a straight-face, would likely claim a police officer’s actions were justified if he detonated a nuclear warhead on a community of mostly colored folk if he found he or others were “reasonably” in fear of their own life or serious property damage. That should be embarrassing. But on a civil liberties blog, its praised….. #TheIntercept
Karen S
The definition of Hell:
Hell is a place with the absence of reason.
Welcome to Hell.
You can state your position in various ways; it won’t help.
See the definition of Hell for an explanation.
Bam Bam:
I envision a mob chanting, “We want justice! Skip the investigation!”
Describe them, not to them.
Ken – if you want to know what I thought about other police shootings or that paralysis of the Indian man, the spinal injury of that other young man, etc, then please read the relevant threads on those topics on this blog.
I’ve remarked that I have grave concerns about this officer’s actions, but can go no farther until the investigation is completed, obviously. Well, obviously to some.
My biggest concern was his drawing his side arm on a crowd of teenagers. There are photos released that seems to show an explanation, but I can draw zero conclusions until the investigation determines what happened. That is hardly a deliberately obtuse position.
Drawing a conclusion based only on a video, however, is.
The crowd with pitchforks and torches claims that an investigation is, of course, necessary, yet, at the same time, its double-speaking members unabashedly preemptively conclude that an investigation will yield no further information to the situation. Their minds are closed. They are the Great Karnacs of our time. All knowing. They would stomp their feet and protest those they deem racist and bigoted, while those terms perfectly describe to them. Justice is irrelevant. Facts are irrelevant. A small snippet, from a poorly shot, shaky cam, will suffice for the lynching mob. Truly sad. Part of a sickness.
From earlier:
“No investigation into the history of this pool party incident, no matter what such an investigation might reveal, is going to change by one iota the facticity of the documented brutal behavior of the city employee for whose documented behavior his employment was suspended.”
Plus there are all those jumping to conclusions and all the pushback to my humble request to wait for an investigation, wondering if I suspended judgement in other cases, etc.
@ Karen S
1, June 8, 2015 at 10:51 pm
Did you have the same reaction regarding the need for suspending judgement about Officer Slager’s guilt or innocence until an investigation was made into his video-documented shooting death of Walter Scott in South Carolina?
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/04/07/officer-michael-slager-shoots-man-in-back-video_n_7021134.html
Do you think that an investigation into that shooting might also change what was captured in the video?
What you say regarding Casebolt’s possible innocence would make sense IF THERE WEREN’T A VIDEO of him brutalizing young people, for which he was suspended.
But the thing is, THERE IS A VIDEO of this employee interacting brutally with the children who had come to the pool party, even if he hadn’t drawn his weapon.
Do you wishfully think any investigation is going to change Casebolt’s behavior as is DOCUMENTED IN THE VIDEO?
I’m not suggesting that there shouldn’t be an investigation, including interviewing as many witnesses as possible to Casebolt’s behavior.
What I AM suggesting is that any new revelations leading up to or including WHAT IS DOCUMENTED IN THE VIDEO WILL NOT AND CANNOT ALTER WHAT HE DID.
And no amount of wishful thinking (or willful obtuseness) can undo the documentation of Casebolt’s behavior, even if his attorney introduces pictures of him smiling innocently on his mother’s knee.
Ken Rogers – I think if this goes to trial there will be a lot of witnesses to back him up. There are also others who video taped the incident. The only one hitting the press is the one with the girl in the bikini. The fight had had videoed by not shown. And it is clear from the rules from the HOA that the mother and the DJ were selling tickets to a pool party they did not have a legal right to. Those kids who were yelling they had tickets, really didn’t. You cannot sell something you don’t own.
As usual, the Legal Insurrection blog has the most reasoned take:
“
“We are supposed to have a system of justice. These calls for skipping an investigation are very troubling… The irony is some of these comments demanding we skip an investigation are occurring on a legal blog.”
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Maybe I missed it, but who said anything about skipping an investigation? Or is this the typical misrepresentation….