Justice

McKinney Police Officer Says Department Has Race Problem

June 8th 2015

A longtime McKinney, Texas police officer says a video showing an officer tackling an unarmed 15-year-old black girl to the ground and drawing his gun on teen classmates at a pool party is “crazy,” and part of a larger race problem.

This type of incident isn’t unique to McKinney, Think Progress reports, referring to the recent police brutality and race-relations issues in cities like Ferguson and Baltimore.

Pete Schulte, an attorney and former McKinney officer and deputy reserve, told Fox4 Dallas that the police force has a race problem.  

“I don’t care what she was yelling at that officer. Anything would not have justified throwing her to the ground and pushing her down and throwing her face into the concrete like he did."

“There is an indication based on watching the video that the white people who were around the officers weren’t talked to, they weren’t pushed away, they weren’t told to get on the ground, they weren’t put in handcuffs. The only individuals McKinney police were doing that to were those that were African-American,” he said.

In the video, Officer Eric Casebolt chases after teenagers at 19-year-old Tatiana Rhodes' birthday party. Rhodes, who is black, says it all started with a racial dispute between herself and a white neighbor, who told teens 'go back to your Section 8 home,' then another white neighbor calling her a "black effer," Rhodes tells photographer E Johnson Photo, in an interview posted on YouTube. Section 8 is a type of federal housing assistance for people who earn low incomes.

According to Rhodes, these two white women attacked her and "came up to me and smacked me in my face" just before police were called.

Brandon Brooks, who filmed the incident Friday, says the situation was 'uncalled for.' 

“I was one of the only white people in the area when that was happening. You can see in part of the video where he tells us to sit down, and he kinda like skips over me and tells all my African-American friends to go sit down,” Brandon tells NewsFix.

The McKinney Police Department has placed Casebolt on administrative leave as religious and political leaders call for his firing

Share your opinion

Do you trust your local police?

Yes 22%No 78%