Homeowners in McKinney, Texas stand by local police who pulled a gun on children for making too much noise at a pool party, Think Progress reports.
“I feel absolutely horrible for the police and what’s going on," an area woman says. "[Officers] were completely outnumbered and they were just doing the right thing when these kids were fleeing and using profanity and threatening security guard."
Fox 4 reporter Zahid Arab, who's been covering this weekend's national police brutality story out of northeast Texas, tweets that McKinney residents support their law enforcement personnel:
Homeowners who saw the entire situation tell me they think the officer's actions were justified because people weren't listening to orders.— Zahid Arab (@Zahid Arab) 1433694296.0
On Sunday, the International Business Tribune announced McKinney police officer Eric Casebolt has been suspended for his videotaped aggression against children that went viral on social media.
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The video shows footage of Casebolt, who is a white man, grabbing Dajerria Becton -- an unarmed 15-year-old black girl wearing a bikini -- by the hair and tackling her into a state of immobility.
Casebolt and other officers responded on Friday to complaints from neighbors about several loud and unruly teenagers at Craig Ranch North Community Pool. The teenagers were black; 911 callers alleged the children may have even been visiting from another part of town.
Young people who attended the ill-fated pool party tell BuzzFeed they reacted after adults hurled racist slurs at them -- and an instruction to go "return" to "Section 8 housing" -- before police arrived and began chasing, tackling, and detaining them.
McKinney police deployed ten units to the children's pool party. A spokesperson for the department says that officers, "eventually got the situation under control." Police deployed weapons to impose order, according to Arab:
Focus of concern at the 3:11 mark when the officer briefly pulls gun out & points it at people http://t.co/w3M84s2TMF http://t.co/nSrEAU0Ov5— Zahid Arab (@Zahid Arab) 1433687292.0
Arab reports that McKinney residents believed officers' "lives were at risk" from the unarmed teenagers.
McKinney police have placed Casebolt on administrative leave after learning about his Friday attack on Becton and other unarmed children. The department is conducting an internal investigation.
"I am disturbed and concerned by the incident and actions depicted in the video," McKinney mayor Brian Loughmiller says in a statement on Sunday. "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. Our City Management and Police Chief are investigating the situation as required, and I have faith that they will conclude the investigation expeditiously and take appropriate action. We will continue to monitor the situation through our City Manager's office and will continue to work with community leaders as we follow this investigative process.”
The McKinney pool tweeted its support to local police on Sunday:
Pool just put up this sign supporting McKinney PD & thanking officers for their response Friday http://t.co/P7bC9hULCF— Zahid Arab (@Zahid Arab) 1433715351.0
A protest march against police brutality in McKinney is scheduled for Monday evening:
March for Justice planned tomorrow at 6:30pm in response to viral video following police response to pool party http://t.co/J89fIISKeK— Zahid Arab (@Zahid Arab) 1433727765.0
