Earlier today we shared details of the incident in McKinney, Texas where police officers were being unusually rough with Black teenagers at a weekend pool party. One of the officers, Eric Casebolt, has been placed on leave, but some questionable details of his online activity have emerged.
Corporal Casebolt was suspended and placed on leave once the video of the weekend incident went public, igniting new conversations about the use of force by police against people of color.
McKinney Police officials issued a statement this morning shortly after the YouTube clip of McKinney and other officers manhandling the teens began to go viral. There was also a tense moment during the video when Casebolt pulled his service weapon on two boys who were trying to intervene.
The folks over at Gawker collected a series of links that pointed to Casebolt’s questionable online activity, including his now-deleted Twitter and LinkedIn accounts. However, a quick look at what is assumably Casebolt’s YouTube account showed that the officer not only uploaded a clip of the incident, but also had other content featuring the use of force by police against Black people.
From Gawker.com:
Decase73’s Youtube playlist features a dozen videos with titles like “Man Attacks Baltimore Police Officer,” “Man Sucker-Punches Cop Gets Kicked in the Face,” and “Chief tells the TRUTH that Black People don’t want to hear.” All would appear to reflect a mindset that police officers are entitled to use any and all force necessary to subjugate those they ostensibly protect and serve.
Yesterday, the video of Casebolt manhandling a teenage girl and pointing his gun at two boys was added to the playlist.
People who were witnesses at the party said that Casebolt and other officers were not judicious in their selection of teens to attack and seemed to apply rougher moves on some of the young girls.
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Photo: YouTube
