The suburban Dallas police officer, Cpl. Eric Casebolt, who cursed out teen pool partygoers before pulling his gun on them and slamming a black female teen’s face in the dirt is under investigation for his wildly overbearing actions and instance of police brutality.
Casebolt, who had his knee in the back of a defenseless black teenage girl before letting her go free to her parents, has been placed on administrative leave, effective immediately.
McKinney Police Chief Greg Conley said at a press conference Sunday, “Several concerns about the conduct of one of the officers at the scene have been raised. The McKinney Police Department is committed to treating all persons fairly under the law. We are committed to preserving the peace and safety of our community for all our citizens.”
Mayor Brian Loughmiller followed up in a in a statement, “Having seen the YouTube video I am disturbed and concerned by the incident and actions depicted in the video. 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 ACLU of Texas released a statement about the video saying:
While we don’t know all the facts about the party, the crowd, or whether a fight broke out, what we do know is that the police response, as seen on the video, appears to be a textbook case of overuse of force. A well-trained police department would have responded more cautiously, with less hostility, and using sophisticated crowd control methods that favor de-escalation not escalation. Without question, guns were not needed and in fact risked turning a group of partying teenagers into a violent encounter that could have turned deadly.
Police departments are intended to be organizations that protect and serve their constituents. But increasingly in this country we have two kinds of policing and we saw both in this incident: protecting and serving white communities and criminalizing and controlling black communities.
While the investigative bodies inside and outside the police departments undergo their probe, take a look at 7 facts about Cpl. Eric Casebolt.
- The officer is Cpl. Eric Casebot from McKinney, Texas, who’s been on the force for a decade, first as an officer and now as a corporal. He has been put on leave while the upper brass from the force in McKinney, about a 20 mile drive north of Dallas, finish its inquest on his actions of spewing vulgarities at a group of black teens and manhandling a 14-year-old, bikini-clad girl.
- Caseholt is the VP of the department’s police union, who has mysteriously and conspicuously silent. Police unions are notoriously vocal following an investigation into one of their own.
- Casebolt said on LinkedIn that he is responsible for line officer supervision, neighborhood patrol and community policing, among other job responsibilities.
- Casebolt is an instructor at the police academy.
- Caseholt began his career in law enforcement following a seven-year tour in the U.S. Navy where he was a security police officer.
- Caseholt is also an instructor at Executive Self-Defense & Fitness Training. The company mysteriously pulled Caseholt’s profile from its website.
- He was voted Officer of the Year in McKinney in 2008.
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