A grand jury declined to indict a former Texas cop seen pulling a gun on teenagers in a 2015 viral video. Collin County officials will not pursue charges against former McKinney officer Eric Casebolt, CBS DFWreports. Casebolt, who is white, was captured on cellphone footage in June 2015 violently throwing a black teenage girl to the ground and pointing his gun at young pool party attendees.
Casebolt and 11 other officers responded to the pool in Craig Ranch after neighbors called in complaints, according to the Dallas Morning News. The incident was widely reported, with the footage of Casebolt's heavily criticized use of force quickly going viral. He resigned four days after the initial incident.
In a statement to CBS DFW, the City of McKinney confirmed the decision to decline indictment, effectively ended their investigation into Casebolt's actions:
The McKinney Police Department’s mission is to make the city a safe place to live, work and visit for everyone. In light of this, we seek to work in partnership with all who live and work in this great city. The incident at the Craig Ranch Pool in 2015 was turned over to the Texas Rangers for investigation. The Rangers concluded their investigation and presented it to the Collin County District Attorney’s Office. On Thursday June 23, the District Attorney’s office presented the findings of the Ranger’s investigation to a Grand Jury. The Grand Jury’s decision was to "No Bill" any charges against Eric Casebolt in relation to the June 2015 incident.
Many saw the police behavior during the incident as a clear example of police brutality, with NAACP president Williams Brooks criticizing "the excessive force on an unarmed 14-year-old girl clad only in a bikini by an officer wearing a uniform and a gun" as troubling.
Speaking with NBC News shortly after the video of Casebolt went viral, the person who shot the footage, Brandon Brooks, said the officer was "out of control" and expressed disappointment at how the city had handled the incident. According to Brooks, the officer was "chasing after all those kids just putting every black person he saw on the ground."
