Chief describes Casebolt’s Actions as ‘Indefensible’; Officer Resigns

McKinney officer involved in pool party fracas quits police force.

A white police officer recorded on video pushing a black teenager in a bikini to the ground at a pool party Friday resigned from the police force Tuesday, the city’s police chief said.

Officer David Eric Casebolt’s actions were “indefensible,” McKinney Police Chief Greg Conley said at a news conference after the officer submitted his resignation.

“He came into the call out of control and the video showed he was out of control during the incident,” Conley said.

Casebolt was not pressured to quit the force, Conley said.

Casebolt, 41, is a former Texas state trooper and 10-year veteran of the McKinney force. He was put on administrative leave after the incident. His lawyer, Jane Bishkin of Dallas, confirmed Tuesday that he had quit the force.

He was one of 12 officers who responded to 911 calls about fights at a pool party at the Craig Ranch North Community Pool.

Conley said a review of the incident video showed that “our policies, our training and our practices do not support his actions.”

“Eleven of them performed according to their training,” Conley said. Casebolt did not, he said

The affluent suburb of McKinney north of Dallas is among the nation’s fastest growing cities, has highly regarded public schools and was ranked by one publication as America’s best place to live.

People who demonstrated this week at a McKinney school compared the city to Baltimore and Ferguson, Mo., where use of deadly force by police triggered widespread protests and violence.

The resignation is a step in the right direction, said Dominique Alexander, president of the Dallas area-Next Generation Action Network and organizer of the demonstrations.

The scrutiny contrasts with McKinney’s high ranking for its quality of life. A Time Inc. publication last year said the city was the best place to live in America, with a median family income in excess of $96,000 and job growth projected at 13 percent. Crime is comparatively low and like other metropolitan suburbs in Texas, McKinney has seen unprecedented expansion. Its population has tripled in the last 15 years to approximately 155,000. About 75 percent of residents are white while nearly 11 percent are black.

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