Sunday morning, we posted a video that clearly shows overzealous officers detaining young people at a Texas pool party. Now that the video has gone viral, the McKinney, Texas, Police Department is responding to the public backlash.
A police officer in the Dallas-Fort Worth area has been suspended after a video surfaced that shows him cursing at and shoving teenagers at a pool party on Friday.
The officers broke up the party, after a fight reportedly broke out near the Craig Ranch North Community Pool. Some have alleged that the pool scuffle was an excuse and that neighbors really called the police due to the influx of black attendees in their area for the event.
The clip shows that once police arrived on the scene, party attendees were handcuffed on sight. Police representative Sabrina Boston says the main officer on the video has been placed on administrative leave pending an investigation.
His name has not yet been released.
McKinney PD STATEMENT: pic.twitter.com/9I3ec57W9D
— Z A (@ZANews16) June 7, 2015
There are still several in the community who maintain that this is not a case of police brutality and that the teens deserved to be dealt with for trespassing. The video does show children running away when officers arrived on the scene. However, despite it being a mixed race crowd, only the black teens were chased down.
The support for the officer’s behavior has already sparked a debate online.
https://twitter.com/bobeani/status/607581934793965568
@diggums317 were u watching the same video?
— Caleb Ennis (@calebennis) June 7, 2015
@KeviKev10 @ZahidArabFox4 @FOX4 that's not what happened, the kids there were invited for a pool party. The call placed was bc a neighbor
— Ruka (@RukaOsoba) June 7, 2015
According to KDFW-TV, an initial caller reported a disturbance to police Friday at about 7:15 p.m. local time (8:15 p.m. EDT). Other callers also reported teens fighting near the pool. As a result, nine McKinney police units were sent to the scene, Boston said.
Police officials maintain that multiple people in the vicinity of the pool did not have permission to be there and refused to leave or obey police commands. The tweet below pokes a big hole in that story — as this party was widely advertised on social media as a public gathering.
The pool party was advertised on social media. Homeowners say none of the nearly 70 people were allowed to be there pic.twitter.com/pZZy9htEK3
— Z A (@ZANews16) June 7, 2015