Texas police officer on leave after video shows him drawing gun on teens at pool

Published 8:30 am Monday, June 8, 2015

A white police officer in McKinney, Texas, has been placed on administrative leave after a video emerged on Saturday that shows the officer manhandling, arresting and drawing his gun on a group of black teenagers outside a pool party, according to news reports.

The video, which was uploaded to YouTube, captures a chaotic scene in a suburban community one hour north of Dallas that grows increasingly tense when the officer — identified as Cpl. Eric Casebolt — attempts to throw a girl onto a sidewalk before using his body to push her head toward the concrete.

Email newsletter signup

When several teenagers move toward Casebolt, he lets her go and takes several steps toward them. As they back up and then turn to flee, he pulls out his gun and approaches before two other officers appear to intervene.

Casebolt can be seen running through the confused crowd while swearing and appearing to randomly handcuff teenagers, who protested that they had just arrived for the pool party.

“A fight between a mom and a girl broke out and when the cops showed up everyone ran, including the people who didn’t do anything,” Brandon Brooks, who uploaded the video to YouTube, wrote in the description. “So the cops just started putting everyone on the ground and in handcuffs for no reason.”

According to a statement posted on the McKinney Police Department’s Facebook page, officers responded to a “disturbance” at the Craig Ranch North community pool at 7:15 p.m. The statement noted that the juveniles at the scene “do not live in the area or have permission to be there.” The statement added: “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.”

The statement continued, “One of the responding officers has been placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of this investigation.”