[Breaking news alert, posted at 3:08 p.m. ET]
Eric Casebolt — the police corporal in McKinney, Texas, who was shown on a viral video slamming a 14-year-old bikini-clad girl to the ground — “allowed his emotions to get the better of him,” his attorney told reporters Wednesday.
“With all that happened that day, he allowed his emotions to get the better of him,” said attorney Jane Bishkin. “Eric regrets that his conduct portrayed him and his department in a negative light. He never intended to mistreat anyone, but was only reacting to a situation and the challenges it presented. He apologizes to all who are offended. That day was not representative of the 10-year service to the community of McKinney, and it is his hope that by his resignation the community may start to heal.”
Before responding to the scene after reports of fighting at a pool party, Casebolt had responded to two suicide calls that day, Bishkin said.
“The video that everyone has seen only depicts a small part of Eric’s actions that day,” she said, adding that the calls had taken “an emotional toll” on the officer.
Casebolt “was a dedicated and decorated officer who in this instance was placed in a high-stress environment that he was not fully prepared for,” Daniel Malenfant of the McKinney Fraternal Order of Police Lodge #107 told reporters Wednesday.
“This incident and the seven minutes worth of video does not fully depict Eric’s moral and ethical character, along with his contributions,” Malenfant said.
[Previous story, posted at 2:39 p.m. ET]
A Texas officer widely criticized for his handling of black teens at a pool party has resigned — even before the investigation into the case has finished.
A YouTube video that showed Eric Casebolt’s response to reports of fighting at a McKinney pool party sparked swift allegations of racism.
Critics decried the white officer for cursing at several black teenagers, unholstering and waving his gun at boys and slamming a bikini-clad girl to the ground, his knees pressed down on her back.
McKinney’s police chief announced Casebolt’s resignation Tuesday and called his actions “indefensible.”
“Our policies, our training, our practice, do not support his actions,” Police Chief Greg Conley said. “He came into the call out of control, and as the video shows, was out of control during the incident.”
Prior to his resignation Casebolt had been on administrative leave as police investigated what happened at McKinney’s Craig Ranch community last Friday.
It’s too soon to say whether the former officer will face charges over what happened, the police chief said.
“We are continuing looking into all the allegations that are being presented to us, and any part of a criminal investigation regarding anyone will take a matter of time for us to work through all those allegations and those people who have come forward to us to complain,” Conley said.
He said he thought that Casebolt was the only responding officer who acted inappropriately.
“I had 12 officers on the scene, and 11 of them performed according to their training,” he said. “They did an excellent job.”
Casebolt’s attorney has not responded to CNN’s requests for comment.
While the police chief said Casebolt’s actions were clearly unjustified, opinions vary as to whether race played a role.
Pamela Meanes strongly believes it did. The president of the National Bar Association, an organization of African-American attorneys, employed some theatrics before addressing reporters in McKinney on Wednesday afternoon. Meanes, who is black, got on the ground on her belly and put her hands behind her back, as if she were wearing handcuffs. A man stood over her, then knelt down and put his knee into her back.
Meanes rose in silence, brushed herself off and spoke at length about changes she and members of the association would like to see happen in policing, not just in McKinney but around the country.
She called on the local lawmakers to enact measures that would require police to perform what she called “mandatory de-escalation of force training.”
Meanes demanded that officers get more training in dealing with mentally ill residents and go through “race relations training.”
She blasted other officers on the scene, in addition to Casebolt, saying other officers did not do enough to stop the officer.
Meanes said she felt there should be a law that makes it crime for an officer who witnesses a colleague committing excessive force to watch and do nothing to stop it.
Party host: Racist remark sparked tensions
Tatyana Rhodes was hosting a pool party Friday and said tensions flared after a racially charged fight broke out.
It started, she said, when two white women told a group of black teens they should leave and “go back to their Section 8 homes.”
One of the women, she said, smacked her in the face.
But Rhodes said the police officer took things too far.
“He didn’t have to use aggression,” she told CNN’s “Erin Burnett: Outfront.”
Now, she says she’s glad he has stepped down.
“I’m happy that he’s resigning,” she said. “I feel that everyone in McKinney will feel better that he’s resigning. … It’s the first step.”
Benet Embry, a black resident at Craig Ranch, saw things differently at the neighborhood pool Friday.
He said he saw a crowd of teenagers show up, even though Craig Ranch’s strict homeowners’ association rules prohibit bringing more than two guests to the pool.
The teens huddled by the gate and shouted to be let in. Some jumped over the fence, Embry said. A security guard tried to get them to leave but was outnumbered, so the guard called police.
“Let me reiterate, the neighbors or the neighborhood did not call the police because this was an African-American party or whatever the situation is,” he said. “This was not a racially motivated event — at all. This whole thing is being blown completely out of proportion.”
Embry did say he was disturbed to see the officer kneel on top of the bikini-clad girl and wave his gun at other teens.
“I may or may not agree with everything that the police officer did, but I do believe he was trying to establish order,” he said.
White videographer: It was racially motivated
Brandon Brooks, the 15-year-old white teen who shot the video, believes Casebolt treated the black teenagers differently than the white teens.
“I was one of the only white people in the area when that was happening,” he told CNN affiliate KDAF. “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.”
Brooks said he was unnerved to see his 14-year-old friend tackled and pressed to the ground.
“I think she was ‘running her mouth,’ and she has freedom of speech, and that was very uncalled for him to throw her to the ground,” he said.
Tackled girl: ‘My back was hurting bad’
Dajerria Becton, the girl seen taken to the ground by Casebolt, told local station KDFW she had obeyed the officer’s order to leave.
“He told me to keep walking,” she said. “And I kept walking, and then I’m guessing he thought we were saying rude stuff to him.”
That’s when things got physical, she said.
“He grabbed me, twisted my arm on my back and shoved me in the grass and started pulling the back of my braids,” Becton told KDFW.
In the video, the officer places her hands behind her and kneels on her back.
“I was telling him to get off me because my back was hurting bad,” Becton said.
Becton wasn’t charged, McKinney police said. She was released to her parents.