By Natalie Hundt
The debate on social media ensued when a violent video from a pool party in McKinney Texas went viral. The McKinney police department also saw the video and suspended officer Casebolt promptly for excessive force.
The video shows Officer Casbolt pulling 15-year-old Dajerria Becton by her hair and slamming her down onto the ground. The girl, an invited guest at a pool party, wearing nothing but a bikini, cried out “Call my momma.”
Reflexively, two boys, (also in swim trunks) run to assist the female victim of the excessive force, but just as reflexively the boys jump and run as officer Casebolt draws his gun at the two young people, as they got closer. Becton now sitting on the ground, is yelled at by Casebolt to sit and although she remains seated, Casebolt pulls her up and slams her face down onto the ground again. McKinney Police Chief Greg Conley stated “The actions of Eric Casebolt are indefensible.”
Police were called after a fight broke out between a white woman, Tracey Carver-Allbritton, who was yelling racist remarks at the black members of the community, and their guests at the community pool. Carver-Allbritton was the first to physically aggress the black 19 year old, who stood up for herself and her friends.
According to Dallas Morning News, Carver-Allbritton has since been placed on administrative leave, by her employer Corelogic. When the police arrived, they forced the black bystander youths to be detained and others to leave.
That is the back story, also disturbing is the debate on social media that followed.
A young girl gets viciously attacked, yet so much of the conversation on social media, is dragged into how the officer felt at the time, what were the officers challenges, whether or not critics of individual officers are generalizing, what happened long before the attack between other people etc.
While these are all related points, the one thing getting lost (I believe deliberately by brutality apologists) is what this girl (and the other victims) went through.
That is the pinnacle of this outrage after all. How must this have traumatized her? How intense must her fear have been? How degrading was it to not be clothed and expected to leave without your belongings? How disturbing is it to attend a party and be told to go back to section 8. How must the hostess mother feel after working hard to provide a nice home in a “nice” neighbourhood and then have racial slurs hurled at her child’s guests? How hurtful is that? How infuriating was it for the teen who defended herself verbally against those slurs and then be slapped? How unfair does it feel to defend yourself from the slap only to have police go after your friends while the white people get to stand by freely and watch? How much strength does it take to carry on in a society like this? What humiliation and possible dangers might the youths have faced, leaving the neighbourhood without clothing? What were the pressures on the youths preventing them from leaving. When did it become unreasonable to tell the police forcing you to leave that you need your belongings, when there was no imminent threat that would demand evacuation?
How do high school teachers manage similar situations every day without physical force and profanity. Did officer Casebolts profanity diminish respect? Were other officers having trouble with a lack of respect? On the video the other officers are having a much different interaction with the youth. What could the abuser, Casebolt have done differently, not what could the victims do differently.
Not enough of the conversation is about the effects on the victims because some people keep distracting away from empathy, instead assassinating everyone’s character, except for (or more than) the violent officers character.
The victims and the critics should not be the ones defending themselves. You don’t have to be perfect not to deserve an attack, nor do you have to be perfect to critic heinous acts. But when you commit unjust attacks and disgrace the badge you deserve public outcry and legal consequences.
There is no question whether the officer has committed unjust attacks and disgraced the badge. That was settled when he was suspended by authorities.
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