The bikini-clad black teenage girl seen in a 2015 video where a white police officer wrestled her to the ground at a Texas pool party filed a federal lawsuit claiming the officer used excessive force. She seeks $5 million in damages.
Through her legal guardian, Shashona Becton, 16-year-old girl, Dajerria Becton, filed the complaint, alleging that former officer, Corporal Eric Casebolt, violated the girl’s constitutional rights by using excessive force and held her without probable cause, the Dallas Morning News reported. The incident occurred on June 5, 2015 in the upscale Craig Ranch community of McKinney, a Dallas suburb. Casebolt and other officers were on scene, attempting to gain control of nearly 70 teenagers who crashed a private pool party.
In the video, Casebolt drew his weapon and threw Becton to the ground after she refused to follow instructions and resisted his attempts to restrain her at the pool party. The seven minute cell phone footage went viral and SJW’s laced a racially-charged narrative onto the incident, even though neighborhood resident and black radio host Benét Embry, said it was not racially-driven at all. Later, he told CNN this was “teenage party that got out of control.”
Subsequently, McKinney Chief of Police Greg Conley placed Casebolt on administrative leave. The 10-year veteran then resigned. At the time, the Chief called the officer’s actions on the video “indefensible” and “out of control.” Soon thereafter McKinney Fraternal Order of Police President Daniel Malenfant announced Casebolt resigned under political pressure and death threats. He called him “a dedicated and decorated officer who was “placed in a high-stress environment that he was not fully prepared for.” One year later, a grand jury in Collin County decided evidence presented against Casebolt did not warrant an indictment.
The lawsuit also blamed Becton’s injuries on the City of McKinney and its police department for not training officers properly, KXAS reported. On Wednesday, the teen’s attorney Kim T. Cole held a press conference. She was curious how the City would defend itself from actions that Conley called “indefensible.” The counselor asserted while Becton’s physical injuries sustained during the incident were minor and had healed, “the psychological damage from this attack will follow her for the rest of her existence.” She said her client “experienced a tremendous amount of backlash on social media, not only from racist and random strangers but also from people at her own school.”
In a statement, McKinney officials disputed Dajerria’s claims against the city and its police force. “The City of McKinney denies the claims alleged against it and the McKinney Police Department, and as such, will vigorously defend the recently filed lawsuit,” the Dallas newspaper reported. “McKinney prides itself in cultivating the highest standards of training and professionalism for our officers, and it strongly believes that its standards and training will withstand legal challenge.”
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