The Texas police officer that has now become famous on the internet for throwing a young African-American teen on the ground and pulling a gun on several others, has been suspended, pending the outcome of further investigation into the situation by the Mckinney Police Department. Police were believed to have been called to the scene by neighbors claiming that the teens were “refusing to leave” and fighting.
The teens were celebrating an end of the school year party, as is customary for this time of year. It seems the trouble arose once some neighbors became upset with the fact that many of the kids didn't live in the neighborhood and were making use of the pool. Several of the teens reported racial slurs and hate speech coming from racist neighbors directed towards the African American teens. When the police showed up, the teens were confused as to why they were being ordered to leave. The main police officer being investigated is seen in a seven minute youtube video, screaming orders and demanding that some African-American kids, “put their face in the grass!” One young girl was even thrown to the ground viscously as she screamed for her mother. The scene became chaotic when the young girl, yelling for help, drew the attention of her young male friends who got in a fighting stance in the direction of the police officer. This caused patrol supervisor Cpl. Eric Casebolt to draw his weapon and head in the direction of the young men. It is a terrifying moment to see the fear in the kid’s eyes as they run for their lives and other officers begin to give chase. Cpl. Cansel then went back to what he was doing, handcuffing and placing his knee on the lower back of this young girl.
There has been a lot of controversy lately about the proper use of force and police violence, however, I think we all can agree after watching this video, that something went terribly wrong.
The Mckinney Police Department had this to say on their Facebook page, “On June, 5 2015 at approximately 7:15., officer from the Mckinney Police Department responded to a disturbance at the Craig Ranch North Community Pool. The initial call came in as a disturbance involving multiple juveniles at the location, who do not live in the area or have permission to be there, refusing to leave McKinney Police received several additional calls related to this incident advising that juveniles were now actively fighting.First responding officers encountered a large crowd that refused to comply with police commands. Nine additional units responded to the scene. Officers were eventually able to gain control of the situation.McKinney Police later learned of a video that was taken at the scene by an unknown party. This video has raised concerns that are being investigated by the McKinney Police Department. At this time, one of the responding officers has been placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of this investigation."
The gravest reason for concern is the blatant discrimination of the African-American juveniles. Why was it that the police immediately assumed that the African-American kids didn’t live there? Are there no African-American families living in that neighborhood? Brandon Brooks, who shot the 7 minute long youtube video, told the HuffPost that, "a bunch of white parents were angry that a bunch of black kids who don’t live in the neighborhood were in the pool.” This is unacceptable and the community may have more to look into than just an overly aggressive officer.
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