The police officer whose video-recorded actions at a North Texas pool party have drawn national attention and comment has resigned from the police force.
Officer David Eric Casebolt resigned Tuesday from the McKinney Police Department after almost 10 years on the force. His resignation was confirmed by his attorney, Jane Bishkin of Dallas.
A viral video showed him pushing a bikini-clad girl to the ground on Friday and brandishing his gun at other black teens after he and other officers responded to complaints about the pool party at a community-owned McKinney swimming pool.
McKinney Police Chief Greg Conley had placed the 41-year-old former Texas state trooper on administrative leave after the incident.
Bishkin declined to say where Casebolt is now and said he had received death threats. The attorney said she would release more information at a news conference Wednesday.
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1:35 p.m. (CDT)
White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest says he doesn’t know if President Barack Obama has seen the video of a North Texas pool party where officers detained black teenagers but that the president is aware of news coverage about it.
Earnest said Tuesday that early indications suggested authorities in McKinney had taken “what appear to be appropriate steps” in putting the officer seen in the video on leave.
Earnest says it would take a few more days to determine what further steps are needed.
Officer David Eric Casebolt is seen pinning a black teenage girl to the ground. Casebolt, who’s white, also pulled a gun on other teens to help keep order as disturbances apparently broke out during Friday’s gathering.
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1 p.m. (CDT)
The NAACP is asking the Department of Justice to review the procedures of a North Texas police department facing heavy scrutiny following a weekend pool party where officers detained black teenagers.
Gary Bledsoe, president of the Texas chapter of the NAACP, said Tuesday that the organization for now has stopped short of asking for a federal investigation of McKinney police.
He says a review of department policies are needed to ensure officers are responding appropriately to calls involving minorities.
Bledsoe also said independent investigators must review the response Friday to the party where video showed a white officer pushing a black teen to the ground in an effort to restrain her. He says the NAACP is still trying to determine who should lead that inquiry but said it shouldn’t be Texas Rangers.
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12 p.m. (CDT)
A white police officer who pinned a black teenage girl to the ground and pulled a gun on others after a weekend pool party in North Texas was accused in a federal lawsuit of racial profiling and excessive force during a 2007 arrest.
David Eric Casebolt is on administrative leave after the pool party incident in McKinney, a Dallas suburb.
In 2007, Casebolt and other officers arrested Albert Brown Jr., who authorities say was found with crack cocaine during a traffic stop.
Brown, who is black, sued Casebolt and the officers, accusing them of forcibly searching him after pulling down his pants and slamming his head against a car hood.
An attorney for Casebolt and the other officers denied Brown’s accusations. The lawsuit was dismissed in 2009.
