Once again, a racist incident involving white cops and unarmed black youths has divided the country along color lines.
The incident involves an end-of-school pool party held in a McKinney, Texas gated community, that dissolved into chaos when several fights broke out between white residents who objected to black youths swimming in their community pool.
Some of the black youths were invited to the pool party while others reportedly “jumped the fence” to get in. The party had been advertised on social media.
Witnesses say a white woman hurled racist epithets at a group of black girls. The woman then attacked a 19-year-old girl, punching her in the face. A fight broke out between the woman and 2 younger girls.
Someone called 911. What happened next was captured by a neighborhood boy on his cell phone.
The first officers arriving on the scene were calm and responded to the situation in a professional manner.
Then Officer Eric Casebolt arrived, somersaulting into the camera view in an overly dramatic manner. He jumped up and began chasing only the black youths, ordering them to get on the ground for no reason.
Casebolt was out-of-control from the moment he arrived. He handcuffed only the black kids, screaming profanities at 14-year-old girls who were simply standing around. Casebolt approached a 14-year-old girl who didn’t move fast enough, snatched her by her hair extensions and flipped her to the ground. He buried her face in the grass and straddled her back, as she cried for her mother.
2 adult males approached Casebolt in an aggressive manner and Casebolt drew his weapon. If not for the quick actions of another cop, we would be talking about another officer-involved shooting of an unarmed black male.
The video left many viewers shaken and outraged. Others — who only see race as a factor in police brutality cases — blamed the black youths for the cop’s aggressive and wholly inappropriate behavior.
Casebolt was placed on administrative leave (not suspension) while the incident is “thoroughly investigated.”
Many are calling for Casebolt’s termination, including TV writer and producer Shonda Rhimes. Rhimes, a lesbian who adopted 2 daughters and had a 3rd by surrogate, fired off a stream of Tweets questioning the officer’s actions.
Rhimes tweeted: “My kids didn’t wanna get out of pool today. ANYONE think best way 2 handle is grab ’em by throat, slam em to ground & cuff ’em? Hell no…. How hard is it to TO NOT ASSAULT A CHILD?” she asked.
This vid raises SO many questions about…everything right now. https://t.co/x1U5cLtmMw
Q1: How hard is it to TO NOT ASSAULT A CHILD?
— shonda rhimes (@shondarhimes) June 8, 2015
Q2: When will a group of kids of color together stop being seen as a gang/ mob and start being seen as AMERICANS. #TakeYourHandsOffOurKids
— shonda rhimes (@shondarhimes) June 8, 2015
Q3:My kids didn't wanna get out of pool today. ANYONE think best way 2 handle is grab 'em by throat, slam em to ground & cuff 'em? Hell no.
— shonda rhimes (@shondarhimes) June 8, 2015
Q4: There are GREAT cops out there. Who also do not want to work in a world with racially biased/racist violent cops. How do we help them?
— shonda rhimes (@shondarhimes) June 8, 2015
Q5: And how do we make this stop? What are concrete organized ways to affect change? How to end assaults/murders of our kids?
— shonda rhimes (@shondarhimes) June 8, 2015
When @Keef_Cakez beat that ass pic.twitter.com/EhB5mY2aus
— Miles(K-Bandz) (@k1dmars) June 6, 2015