‘I was telling him to get off me because my back was hurting bad’
The bikini-clad teenage girl who was forcibly restrained by a police officer responding to a disturbance at a pool party in a Dallas suburb over the weekend says she was an invited guest and was obeying his orders to leave when he grabbed her.
“He told me to keep walking,” Dajerria Becton, 15, told Fox 4. “And I kept walking and then I’m guessing he thought we were saying rude stuff to him.”
Becton was then thrown to the ground by Eric Casebolt, one of 12 McKinney Police Department officers who responded to the disturbance call at a private community pool Friday night.
(YouTube/Brandon Brooks)
“He grabbed me, twisted my arm on my back and shoved me in the grass and started pulling the back of my braids,” Becton said. “I was telling him to get off me because my back was hurting bad.”
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(YouTube/Brandon Brooks)
In a video of the incident taken by a fellow teen and posted to YouTube, Casebolt, who is white, can be seen shouting obscenities and ordering some black teens to lie on the ground while telling others to disperse. He then pulls his gun on a pair of black teenagers who appear to be coming to Becton’s aid.
(YouTube/Brandon Brooks)
Becton was not charged and was later released to her parents.
After the footage surfaced, Casebolt was placed on administrative leave.
“This video has raised concerns that are being investigated,” the McKinney Police Department said in a statement Sunday.
“The McKinney Police Department is committed to treating all persons fairly under the law,” McKinney Police Chief Greg Conley said at a press conference Sunday afternoon. “We are committed to preserving the peace and safety of our community for all of our citizens.”
Conley added: “As the chief of police, I am committed to a complete and thorough investigation into this incident.”
“I am disturbed and concerned by the incident and actions depicted in the video,” McKinney Mayor Brian Loughmiller said in a separate statement. “Our expectation as a City Council is that our police department and other departments will act professionally and with appropriate restraint relative to the situation they are faced with.”
The video quickly sparked outrage on social media, as many drew comparisons to recent high-profile cases of police bias in Ferguson, Mo., and Baltimore.
One youth runs away and some of the other officers give chase when the teen is brought back he is bleeding from the mouth.
The National Bar Association, a network of predominantly African-American attorneys, judges and law professors, called for Casebolt’s immediate firing.
‘This kind of force is uncalled for especially on children and innocent bystanders,’ wrote Brandon Brooks who posted the footage online.
“It is insufficient to place him on paid administrative leave, when it is obviously clear that this officer was not enforcing the law, but instead was enforcing his will and power and showing explicit bias towards these African-American teenagers,” the Washington, D.C.-based group said. “The girl is obviously in distress and not in any manner moving or attempting to get away from the officer. She posed no physical threat to the officer.”
Some witnesses in the neighborhood disagreed.
“He grabbed her arm and tried to handcuff her, and she was resisting immediately and she should’ve just stopped at that point,” one white woman, who declined to be identified on camera, told the Fox affiliate. “They were just doing the right thing when these kids were fleeing and using profanity and threatening security guards.”
Becton, though, said she wouldn’t be satisfied with Casebolt’s termination.
“Him getting fired is not enough,” she said.
police officer in the Dallas-Fort Worth area has been suspended after video footage emerged that shows him wrestle a bikini-clad girl to the ground and then point his gun at a group of teenagers. The incident happened after McKinney Police Department received several calls on Friday night about a disturbance near the Craig Ranch North Community Pool.
An unnamed police officer in the Dallas-Fort Worth area has been suspended after video footage emerged that shows him wrestle a bikini-clad girl to the ground and then point his gun at a group of unarmed teenagers
An unnamed police officer in the Dallas-Fort Worth area has been suspended after video footage emerged that shows him wrestle a bikini-clad girl to the ground and then point his gun at a group of unarmed teenagers
An unnamed police officer in the Dallas-Fort Worth area has been suspended after video footage emerged that shows him wrestle a bikini-clad girl to the ground and then point his weapon at a group of teenagers.
Cell phone footage of the incident shows one officer arrive at the scene and start overreacting in a manner that does little to defuse the situation
Cell phone footage of the incident shows one officer arrive at the scene and start overreacting in a manner that does little to defuse the situation
The officer can be seen pulling several teens to the ground and handcuffing them, despite the protests of several that they are there simply to attend a party.
Cell phone footage of the incident shows one officer arrive at the scene.
The officer can be seen pulling several teens to the ground and handcuffing them, despite the protests of several that they are there simply to attend a party. According to the police report, the cops were called about a disturbance involving several juveniles at the pool who didn’t have permission to be there and didn’t live in the area.
The first officers to arrive at the pool encountered a large crowd of people who refused to obey orders to leave, reports KDFW. Nine additional McKinney police units were sent to the pool and officers eventually got the situation under control, said the police. The video footage appears to show a different story and at about the three-minute mark the out of control officer can be seen wrestling a young woman in a two-piece bathing suit to the ground.
The officer’s behavior causes the situation to escalate as the girl’s friends surround him and next he produces his gun. One youth runs away and some of the other officers give chase, while the irate officer now sits on the back of the young woman that he has been manhandling.
The footage was posted on YouTube on Saturday and the police force suspended the officer after viewing it. Police officials said the officer’s conduct had ‘raised concerns’
The footage was posted on YouTube on Saturday and the police force suspended the officer after viewing it. Police officials said the officer’s conduct had ‘raised concerns’
The footage was posted on YouTube on Saturday and the police force suspended the officer after viewing it. Police officials said the officer’s conduct had ‘raised concerns’.
One youth runs away and some of the other officers give chase – when the teen is brought back he is bleeding from the mouth
One youth runs away and some of the other officers give chase – when the teen is brought back he is bleeding from the mouth
One youth runs away and some of the other officers give chase when the teen is brought back he is bleeding from the mouth.
Everyone in the video that the officer is abusive or physical toward is black, while the child filming the incident – who is white – is never asked to sit down and stop what he is doing
Everyone in the video that the officer is abusive or physical toward is black, while the child filming the incident – who is white – is never asked to sit down and stop what he is doing
Later the other officers arrive back with the runaway, he seems to be bleeding from his mouth. The cell phone footage, taken by one of the teens present, was uploaded to YouTube on Saturday. ‘A fight between a mom and a girl broke out and when the cops showed up everyone ran, including the people who didn’t do anything,’ wrote Brandon Brooks.
‘So the cops just started putting everyone on the ground and in handcuffs for no reason. This kind of force is uncalled for especially on children and innocent bystanders.’ Since being made aware of the footage, McKinney Police Department has placed the unnamed officer on administrative leave while an investigation is carried out. Officials also said the officer’s conduct had ‘raised concerns.’
It isn’t known if any of the teenagers seen in the video were arrested or charged.
‘This kind of force is uncalled for especially on children and innocent bystanders,’ wrote Brandon Brooks who posted the footage online
‘This kind of force is uncalled for especially on children and innocent bystanders,’ wrote Brandon Brooks who posted the footage online
‘This kind of force is uncalled for especially on children and innocent bystanders,’ wrote Brandon Brooks who posted the footage online.
The officer can be seen pulling several teens to the ground and handcuffing them, despite the protests of several that they are there simply to attend a party
The officer can be seen pulling several teens to the ground and handcuffing them, despite the protests of several that they are there simply to attend a party
The officer can be seen pulling several teens to the ground and handcuffing them, despite the protests of several that they are there simply to attend a party.
The incident appears to highlight an excessive use of force by police. McKinney is a city of about 140,000 people, located about 30 miles northeast of Dallas.
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