Justice

This One Comic Nails the Absurdity of the McKinney Cop's Barrel Roll

June 10th 2015

There are many insane facets of the McKinney, Texas police department's virulent response to a neighborhood complaint about teens at a pool party over the weekend: that officer Eric Casebolt felt the need to calm the situation and wrangle milling teens by pulling out his gun, say, or that pinning a teenaged girl to the ground in a manner suited to restraining someone on PCP would coerce the surrounding crowd into thinking he was right.

After millions of YouTube views and an outraged response from observers nationwide, Casebolt resigned Tuesday in a flurry of unwanted attention. McKinney police chief Greg Conley called Casebolt's actions "indefensible" at an announcement of the resignation Tuesday. "Our policies, our training, our practice do not support his actions...He came into the call out of control, and as the video shows, was out of control during the incident."

 

But a portion of the video, which poetically captures his overzealous approach to catching the aquatic teens, has become a darkly comedic illustration of precisely what's wrong with the manic policing so common in news headlines these days. In just one barrel roll––a looped GIF of which never tires––former-officer Casebolt said more than words alone could communicate.

Over at the Nib, the comic Bors summed it all up in four squares.

Barrel Roll Comic

Barrel Roll Comic

Barrel Roll Comic

Barrel Roll ComicThe Nib/Matt Bors - thenib.com

Before he resigned, Casebolt was placed on administrative leave while police investigated the incident, and as protesters in Texas took to the streets Monday after the video went viral.

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