The white police officer who was recorded on video pushing a black girl to the ground at a North Texas pool party has resigned from the police force.
Officer David Eric Casebolt's actions were "indefensible," McKinney Police Chief Greg Conley said at a press conference after the officer submitted his resignation. But Casebolt was not pressured to quit the force, Conley said.
A video recorded by another teenager and posted online showed Casebolt pushing a bikini-clad black girl to the ground on Friday and brandishing his gun at other black teens after he and other officers responded to complaints about the pool party at a community-owned McKinney swimming pool.
The 41-year-old former Texas state trooper was put on administrative leave after the incident.
Conley said a review of the incident video showed that "our policies, our training and our practices do not support his actions."
In all, 12 officers responded to the report of fights and a disturbance at the pool party at the Craig Ranch North Community Pool in an affluent area of western McKinney.
"Eleven of them performed according to their training," Conley said. Casebolt did not, he said.
"He came into the call out of control and the video showed he was out of control during the incident," Conley said.
Despite Casebolt's resignation, his actions remain under investigation and no decision has been made as to whether charges will be filed against him, Conley said. Charges of interfering with an officer and evading arrest against the only man arrested during Friday's incident have been dropped, Conley said. Everyone else was released.
Casebolt's lawyer, Jane Bishkin of Dallas, confirmed Tuesday he had quit the force. Bishkin declined to say where Casebolt is now and said the officer had received death threats. The attorney said she would release more information at a news conference Wednesday.
The incident has prompted criticism of the affluent suburb of McKinney north of Dallas, which 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, Missouri, where use of force by police against blacks triggered widespread protests and violence.
