McKinney Race Relations Still Simmering

McKINNEY, Texas (CN) - Six black teenagers have filed administrative complaints against the white police officer who drew his gun at a fracas outside a McKinney, Texas pool party.

YouTube video postings of the June 5 incident have been viewed more than 1 million times. McKinney police Cpl. Eric Casebolt resigned two days after the incident, and denied later that race had anything to do with it . Peaceful demonstrators have continued to demand a criminal indictment.

Attorneys Darrell Jordan and Kwame Thompson said Friday they have filed misconduct complaints with the McKinney Police Department on behalf of the families of Jordan Gray, Jayden Gray, Ladariene McKever, Jahda Bakari, Dajah Bakari and Maxwell Hudson.

A 7-minute video uploaded to YouTube on June 6 shows Casebolt and 11 other officers responding to calls of fights and uninvited guests at a privately owned community swimming pool at the Craig Ranch master planned community.

The video quickly went viral and brought national attention to the Dallas suburb. It shows Casebolt screaming profanity at black male teenagers, telling them to get on the ground, while he repeatedly yells at a group of teenage girls to leave.

He is shown wrestling Dajerria Becton, 15, of McKinney, to the ground. Several teenagers are shown crying and screaming while surrounding Casebolt, who unholsters his service weapon and appears to point it at the two black male teenagers closest to him, who run away.

Casebolt then reholsters his gun and pins the screaming girl to the ground with his knees. She can be heard repeatedly asking for her mother.

"We will not rest, stop or back down until former officer Casebolt is arrested, tried and convicted of his crimes against the children of McKinney," attorney Thompson said.

Thompson said his primary goal is to "ensure the safety of the students" and to "prevent any further injustices against them." He says his clients were "assaulted, battered and emotionally distressed" by Casebolt.

"Violence against children is unacceptable," he said.

The families are not planning to sue, but that could change, the attorneys said.

On June 16, a white McKinney resident who appeared in a second video of a fight at the pool party denied she was racist. Tracy Carver told reporters in Los Angeles that she was trying to defuse the fight involving her friend.

"I did not beat anyone, nor did I use racial slurs of any kind," Carver said at a news conference. "I was trying to separate my friend from someone who was pulling her hair. The fact that I've had to relocate my family for their safety has made me physically ill."

Carver's attorney Gloria Allred told reporters that false accusations against Carver led to death threats that forced her to go into hiding.

"She is speaking out for the first time in California because she feels that she is unable to return home in Texas because of the false rumor that she is a racist," Allred said. "The threats include threats to rape and kill her children and to rape and kill Tracy. I'm unable to repeat some of these threats because of the obscenities and profanity. However, Tracy has made law enforcement aware of the threats of bodily harm."

Allred said the viral video is "incomplete" because it shows only part of what happened at the party.

Carver said many of the teens at the pool party "became irate" when they were denied entry because they lacked the required access keycards. The party was at a private pool owned and operated by a homeowner's association that restricts the number of guests allowed.

Carver said that as she and her family tried to leave the pool, several teenagers shouted "go home, bye-bye black haters" at them.

"It was nearly impossible to exit the gate because it was three rows deep with unruly, disrespectful teens and young adults," she said. "Once I was able to get out of the gate, a teen was screaming racist slurs at me and a visiting friend, saying, 'This is a public pool.' In response, my friend said, 'This is not a public pool. People pay community dues to use this pool.'"

Carver said the incident was not about race, but about following community rules about keycards and a maximum of two guests per person.

Follow @davejourno

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