Officer Casebolt Resigns After Pool Party Incident

The police officer caught on video holding a black teenage girl on the ground while pointing his gun at other teens during pool party in McKinney, Texas, Officer Eric Casebolt has resigned. According to The New York Times, Casebolt had been on administrative leave, and at a press conference today, McKinney Police Department Chief, Greg Conley, officially announced Casebolt's resignation. Bustle has reached out to the department for comment.

The McKinney Police Department said it had received calls about a "disturbance involving multiple juveniles at the location, who do not live in the area or have permission to be there, refusing to leave," though the Los Angeles Times reported that the teenagers claimed they had permission to be there.

Brandon Brooks, a teen who was at the party, took a video that went viral, and people quickly responded. According to the Associated Press, community members of the Dallas suburb demonstrated on Monday in hopes to get Casebolt fired, holding signs saying "My Skin is Not a Crime," and "Fire Eric Casebolt," drawing comparisons to recent events of police racial bias like Ferguson and Baltimore.

But, McKinney Police insisted that race played no part in the recent episode. Daniel Malenfant, McKinney Fraternal Order of Police lodge president, said:

The McKinney FOP assures that this was not a racially motivated incident and can say without a shadow of doubt that all members of the McKinney FOP and McKinney PD do not conduct racially biased policing.

The Texas ACLU chapter released an opposite statement saying:

While we don’t know all the facts about the party, the crowd, or whether a fight broke out, what we do know is that the police response, as seen on the video, appears to be a textbook case of overuse of force. A well-trained police department would have responded more cautiously, with less hostility, and using sophisticated crowd control methods that favor de-escalation rather than escalation — especially when it comes to youth and children.

Images: Brandon Brooks/YouTube