Posted on 06/09/2015 9:47:30 PM PDT by nickcarraway
Officer's resignation effectively ends internal investigation by McKinney police
"As the chief of police, I want to say to our community that the actions of Casebolt, as seen on the video, of the disturbance at the community pool, are indefensible," said Chief Greg Conley, during a news conference Tuesday afternoon. "Our policies, our training, our practice, do not support these actions. He came into the call out of control, and as the video shows, was out of control during the incident."
As Casebolt and two officers first responded to the scene, teens were said to be running from the area as officers tried to gain control of the situation
"Our citizens called us to a fight in progress and a general disturbance at the community pool. We responded. I do not condone the actions of those individuals who violated the rules of the community, showed disrespect to the security person on scene and to the officers who responded," Conley said. "However, we as a department are held to a high standard ... as we do our jobs. I support the fine men and women of the McKinney Police Department, who day in and day out, do an outstanding job on behalf of all of our citizens."
Police said nine additional officers were called to the scene and the disruption was eventually brought under control.
"I have 12 officers on the scene and 11 of them performed according to their training. They did an excellent job," Conley said. Video showing the incident sparked national scrutiny of the officer's actions. Meanwhile, Casebolt was placed on administrative leave while his actions were investigated.
Casebolt resigned Tuesday through his attorney and did not issue an apology, police said Tuesday.
The teen in the bikini taken to the ground by Casebolt was eventually released without being cited.
"I was wondering what was going through his head. Why would he even come to the scene and act in the manner in which he acted?" said Dana Bakari, whose daughter, Jahda, was at the party on Friday night.
The family lives in the Craig Ranch North neighborhood.
Casebolt's resignation effectively ends the investigation by the McKinney Police Department's Internal Affairs Division.
"We may never know, but at the same time, too, I am relieved that he's no longer at the police force here in McKinney," Dana Bakari said.
On Monday night, the Craig Ranch North Homeowners' Association sent an email to its members, saying, in part, "This is a peaceful, increasingly-diverse neighborhood that is growing and thriving because of our difference in background, race, reasons for moving here, and in many other ways."
"I just hope it doesn't shed a negative light here," Dana Bakari said.
Cornell William Brooks, president and CEO of the NAACP, released a statement Tuesday following Casebolt's resignation.
"To protect any community, law enforcement officials must respect that community. The resignation of Cpl. Eric Casebolt is a good first step, but hardly the last," Brooks said.
Brooks went on to say the NAACP, "will continue working with community members and law enforcement to ensure that no one, especially the young people of McKinney, are ever again the victims of excessive force, racial profiling and police brutality."
One person was arrested for evading arrest/detention and interference with public duties. Police said Tuesday that those charges were dropped.
McKinney police said they have reached out to the teens involved and asked if they wanted to press charges. So far only one person has responded.
NBC 5's Amanda Guerra, Ray Villeda, Don Peritz, Kevin Young and Brian Roth contributed to this report.
He must have known he was going to be thrown under the bus.
Mark Levin has been screaming this misinformation. He wasn’t the first on the scene. You see him arriving and doing his barrel roll stunt with the other reinforcing cops. The other cops come over to his area when he’s being abusive.
And, the kids came over closer when he was bashing a 14yo girl onto the concrete. Then retreated as quickly as possible, with the cop only pulling his gun after they had retreated quite a ways away from him.
> JMHO but they didn’t escalate and helped keep this incident from getting all the way out of control.
That one officer definitely escalated the situation. He definitely appeared to have control issues but then again I wasn’t there. Becoming a police officer is definitely becoming a less desirable profession since The One ascended the throne.
IIRC, this guy was one of three who was surrounded by a gang of kids who were not responding to lawful orders.
So those eleven the chief is referring to were NOT the first ones on the scene.
My take is the chief is throwing the cop under the bus.
This is worth repeating.
It seems quite possible, given the speed of the resignation.
There are rumors of another video out there. I hope it exists, and hope it shows enough to be useful.
Did this not start as an illegal gate crashing incident by folks who were not invited?
The winning posting.
A number of conservative sites I have visited since this recent incident I have noticed myself a few trolls have been showing up.
“Mark Levin has been screaming this misinformation. He wasn’t the first on the scene. You see him arriving and doing his barrel roll stunt with the other reinforcing cops. The other cops come over to his area when he’s being abusive.”
I’m on Mark Levin’s side, not yours. Your viewpoint is colored (pardon the pun) by a distinct dislike of police, methinks. Mark’s objective here, you, not so much...
The point is a simple fact of the case—not anti- or pro-police bias.
Can Freepers not handle simple facts anymore?
Sadly as I had posted before, I have noticed on a few conservative sites trolls coming in to cause trouble since this most recent incident.
The who issue was about a number “gate crashing” teens who were not invited to the party to begin with, more then the actions of a police officer.
I agree that that has been lost—because of the one goony cop.
This is the era of smartphone video, and you can’t have a white cop beating on a 14yo black girl in a bikini in a predominantly white neighborhood without causing an uproar.
Because of Obama’s gang’s Alinsky campaign to rub the black community raw about white police brutality against them, way too much of the country has the idea that white on black crime, albeit by cops, is far greater a problem than black on white crime—when law enforcement isn’t around.
I blame BOTH the kids who gate crashed and the police officer whom I believed had a major meltdown in this incident.
I may be old-fashioned, but if you did get an invite to a private party, you just do not go, period. Gate crashing a party just simply lowers my respect in my eyes. From what I have heard, there was not supposed be more then 20 kids at that party.
On the police officer, he either had a complete meltdown and ended up acting like a rouge or was on a power trip. Either way, there are NO winners in this incident.
“Being first on the scene, this cop got the brunt of the mob turmoil.”
He was not first on the scene. The chaotic event had already been going on long before he arrived. And the scene he arrived at was not ground zero. This was crowd control. He was trying to keep them from going back to the main scene.
I agree—though a beating by the cops is probably not the due punishment.
I wish I knew the facts better. It does look like the rules are no more than 20 to a party, but also the “hosts” claim that most of the attendees were classmates and from the neighborhood. If so, were they entitled to go to the pool on their own and not officially count as part of the 20?
I really don’t know. I’ve also read that they had obscene, loud rap music blasting, etc. Don’t know if any of that is true.
And the cop screaming at the kids with profanity when issuing his instructions was also totally uncalled for. Looked like he’d watched far too many cop shows on TV.
Even after all this, there are still way too many questions to be answered. Even I am left with questions myself.
When I say I blame BOTH the former cop and the gate crashing kids, other posters here and on other sites view my comment with surprise. But it is because there is still way too many questions that need to be answer first.
IMO there’s definitely fault on both sides.
“Stop saying everything is fine now, and it’s all settled. It isn’t. The rage is just below the surface, and a lot of that pent up rage is on the part of very much maligned police officers throughout the U.S. while our own half black, but that’s the half that counts Prez and his thug regime constantly stir the pot of racial divide, class warfare and hostility towards its own citizens.”
I’m talking about McKinney specifically.
Not what may happen somewhere else.
The incident in McKinney is over.
“No it isn’t. Even in the article, one of the racist agitators said the policeman resigning is a start, but it isn’t over.”
Well I’m sure there will be a lawsuit or a settlement.
But I said that before.
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