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Reports contained in the New York Times indicates the few white teens at the party were not harassed by police, with officers heading straight for the black teenagers in acts of abuse and discrimination. The video has gone viral causing outrage online. As a result of the uproar, authorities announced officer Casebolt has been suspended, placed on administrative leave, while an internal affairs probe for police brutality and excessive force is conducted.
The New York Times also reported there are racial tensions in the neighborhood among some residents, "In a video posted to YouTube on Sunday, a black teenager named Tatiana said her family was hosting a cookout for friends when a woman insulted them, prompting a 14-year-old family friend to respond. Tatiana said a white woman had then told her: 'You need to go back to where you’re from' and to 'go back to your Section 8 home (welfare based housing).' Tatiana said that she had replied, 'Excuse me,' and that then another white woman hit her in the face and 'both women attacked' her."
STORY SOURCE
Jarring Image of Police’s Use
of Force at Texas Pool Party
June 8, 2015 - McKINNEY, Tex. — No lives were lost. The incident played out at a suburban pool party, not an urban neighborhood struggling with crime and drugs. But perhaps it was that suburban setting that helped make the images so powerful and disturbing. Now a video of a police officer pointing a gun at teenagers in bathing suits and shoving a young black girl’s face into the ground has become the latest flash point in relations between the police and minorities.
The cellphone video, taken at the community pool in Craig Ranch, a racially diverse subdivision north of Dallas, has set off another debate over race and police tactics, with activists calling for the officer to be fired and others arguing that the blame should fall at least in part on the teenagers.
The video appears to show the officer, David Eric Casebolt, briefly waving his handgun at young partygoers who approached him as he tried to subdue the teenage girl on Friday. The officer ultimately immobilized the girl by putting her facedown on the ground and placing a knee on her back.
Chief Greg Conley of the McKinney Police Department said that the video had prompted an internal affairs investigation and that Officer Casebolt, a patrol supervisor, had been placed on administrative leave. One adult man was arrested on charges of interfering with the duties of a police officer and evading arrest, Chief Conley said. The 14-year-old girl who had been immobilized by Officer Casebolt was “temporarily detained” but ultimately released to her parents, he said...
Brandon Brooks, 15, who shot the video, told a TV station that Officer Casebolt had not confronted him, one of the few white teenagers at the party. “I was one of the only white people in the area when that was happening,” he told the station. “You can see in part of the video where he tells us to sit down, and he kind of like skips over me and tells all my African-American friends to go sit down.”
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