The U.S. justice system has continued to fail the African-American community at an alarmingly increasing pace over the last decade and they’ve done so yet again in the case against former McKinney, Texas police officer Eric Casebolt.
As many will recall, Casebolt was caught on video last summer aggressively grabbing a Black teen girl in a bikini before wrestling her to the ground and later sitting on her as he forcefully attempted to restrain her.
Casebolt was responding to reports of a neighborhood disturbance at an afternoon pool party along with several other white officers when he encountered a group of African-American teenagers on the street. According to several people in attendance at the pool party, police were called after adults at the pool began making racist comments towards the kids, allegedly suggesting that they go back to “Section 8.”
Dajerria Becton, who is the teen girl shown being forcefully thrown to the ground in the video, told BuzzFeed that Casebolt’s handling hurt her back. The video below shows the scene as the officers arrived to the pool party, with the incident involving Becton beginning at about the 2:25 mark.
The former officer resigned shortly after the video went viral last year, but despite widespread outrage over the incident (and the footage itself that clearly shows inappropriate conduct where officer Casebolt is concerned), a Collin County, Texas grand jury has decided not to indict him on any criminal charges. The city of McKinney released a statement on the decision shortly after the outcome of the case was made public on Thursday.
“The McKinney Police Department’s mission is to make the city a safe place to live, work and visit for everyone. In light of this, we seek to work in partnership with all who live and work in this great city,” the statement read. “The incident at the Craig Ranch Pool in 2015 was turned over to the Texas Rangers for investigation. The Rangers concluded their investigation and presented it to the Collin County District Attorney’s Office. On Thursday June 23, the District Attorney’s office presented the findings of the Ranger’s investigation to a Grand Jury. The Grand Jury’s decision was to “No Bill” any charges against Eric Casebolt in relation to the June 2015 incident.”
The Texas grand jury decision not to indict Casebolt comes in the same week that Baltimore police officer Caesar Goodson was also acquitted of all charges against him despite his involvement in transporting former resident Freddie Gray, who ultimately died from injuries sustained during a violent arrest just a week before his death.
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