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The actions of a Texas cop who was filmed yanking a 14-year-old black girl down by the braids and sitting on her at a pool party on Friday was not motivated by race, his lawyer has said.
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Eric Casebolt, a 10-year veteran of the McKinney Police Department, resigned Tuesday after video of the incident, which occurred in the affluent Dallas suburb of McKinney, emerged over the weekend. Two teen witnesses to the incident said the officer appeared to be driven by race, because most of the teens detained were black.
“I honestly believe it was about race, because mostly they did nothing to the Caucasians,” at the party, 13-year-old Jahda Bakari told CBS News. “[The police] were acting like we were criminals… We were just there for a pool party.”
But Casebolt’s lawyer, Jane Bishkin, an attorney with the Dallas County Police Officer’s Association, denied those claims Wednesday, saying the officer “was not targeting minorities,” and had also detained a white female at the scene, which was not caught on camera.
Related: Cop Who Pulled Gun at Texas Pool Party Motivated by Race, Says Teen Witness
Casebolt was also filmed drawing a gun on a group of other teens when they tried to intervene in the hair pulling incident, some of whom fled and were pursued by police.
“He believed that those who fled were possible suspects,” Bishkin said in defending the officer’s actions.
She added that Casebolt “allowed his emotions to get the better of him,” but that he “apologizes to all who were offended.” Bishkin blamed “prior suicide calls” for putting the officer in “an emotional place” before he arrived at the scene that day.
The incident reportedly began when police attempted to break up a pool party to celebrate the end of the school year in the mostly white suburb. Many of the teens attending the pool party were black. McKinney Police Chief Greg Conley said that three officers arrived after a private security officer at the Craig Ranch Community called police when several teens that did not have permission to use the pool refused to leave.
Casebolt’s resignation Tuesday came amid calls from the public for the department to fire the officer. The cell phone video sparked mass outrage and protest after it was posted and went viral. It has since been viewed more than 10 million times.
At a press conference outside police headquarters Tuesday afternoon, Conley denounced Casebolt’s actions, calling them “indefensible.”
The officer has since gone into hiding with his wife after receiving numerous death threats, his lawyer said.
Related: Texas Cop Who Pulled Gun on Teens at Pool Party Resigns
