As a former mayor of Baltimore, Martin O’Malley has made racial unrest and law enforcement reform an issue in his nascent presidential campaign.
But on Thursday night, he said he had not seen the video of the latest incident that’s sparked cries of police brutality against minorities: an officer’s apparent disproportionate reaction to reports of a group of teens fighting at a pool party in Texas.
The video of the incident went viral and critics accused the officer Eric Casebolt of racism. Casebolt was caught on tape responding to reports of fighting at a pool party by slamming a bikini-clad, teenage girl to the ground and waving his gun at a group of boys, most of them black.
He resigned on Tuesday, amid a police investigation into his actions.
When CNN asked O’Malley about the incident, he said, “I haven’t seen it, I’ve heard of it.”
O’Malley said because of the widespread use of camera phones, “we’re going to be seeing more incidents that involve police officers and citizens,” but did not comment on substance of the specific incident in Texas.
“And often times, those incidents will involve issues of race and legacy of race that all of us, whether black or white, share as Americans. And that issue of race in America and law enforcement have been intertwined for 300 to 400 years in this country,” he said.
O’Malley said that officers who are “well-trained and play by the rules” are the “norm,” but acknowledged videos like these make Americans question that. Officers should adopt body cameras and other tools to combat the negative perception of police officers and protect themselves, O’Malley said.
“With the advent of new technology in the hands of every citizen, we need to put better technology in the hands of police departments so they can be open and transparent and accountable,” he said.
During his campaign launch, O’Malley touched on the death of Freddie Gray, who died in the back of a police van in Baltimore.
“There is something to be learned from that night, and there is something to be offered to our country from those flames,” he said.
