Dallas, Texas - A white policeman filmed pulling a gun at a Texas pool party attended mainly by black teenagers acted out of stress rather than racism, his lawyer said on Wednesday, a day after he quit.
Eric Casebolt is in hiding because of death threats, according to his lawyer, who said the policeman resigned from the McKinney force in hopes of easing tensions in the Dallas suburb after the video went viral and provoked outrage.
It comes at a time of heightened racial tensions following a series of incidents involving questionable use of sometimes lethal police force in black communities across the United States.
The footage - which has been seen 11 million times on YouTube - shows Casebolt pinning a bikini-clad black girl to the ground and placing his knees on her back.
He is also seen pulling out his gun when two young black men approach the distraught girl, who was screaming for help as he pushed her face down into the sidewalk by the back of the neck.
“He was not targeting minorities,” attorney Jane Bishkin told a press conference. “In fact, he also detained a white female who you do not see on the video.”
Casebolt “allowed his emotions to get the better of him” because he was still recovering emotionally from two suicide calls earlier that day, she said.
The first involved a man who had shot himself in front of his children and other families at an apartment pool. Later that same day, Friday, Casebolt helped to calm a teenager who was threatening to jump off her parents' roof.
Casebolt “never intended to mistreat anyone” and “apologises to all who were offended”, his lawyer added.
“It is his hope that by his resignation the community may start to heal.”
But the teenager who filmed the video told US media he believes racism was a factor in the heavyhanded police response.
Brandon Brooks, 15, who is white, was at the party with several black friends who he said were treated more harshly by police.
“When I was standing there filming, all my friends around me - my black friends, African-American friends - they were all getting put on the ground and having to stay there and they hadn't done anything at all but just stand there,” the boy told CNN.
“They were innocent bystanders who were placed on the ground for no reason. The cop kind of skipped over me for standing there. I was doing the same thing as them.”
Brooks said he kept recording the fracas even after the officer removed his revolver from his holster.
“I continued filming after he pulled his gun out because the gun wasn't in my direction,” he told CNN.
“I, personally, think he was going to shoot one of those kids.”
“You could see in the video, two cops pulled him back and checked him to give him a heads up like, 'hey, calm down’.”
McKinney's police chief denounced Casebolt's “indefensible” actions as he announced the policeman's resignation on Tuesday, insisting they did not reflect the department's “high standard of action”.
Civil rights groups and advocates speaking on behalf of the teenagers have called for a more robust official response.
“Given the nature of the situation and given his actions, I think that step two would be to look to criminal charges and the possibility of pursuing those,” said Emmanuel Obi, an attorney representing Tatyana Rhodes, the teenager reported to have organised the pool party.
Casebolt was one of about a dozen officers who had been sent to the community centre on Friday amid reports of a “disturbance” at the pool.
The conflict began after a group of uninvited youngsters showed up at the party and then refused to leave, police said.
AFP