For parents, police and neighborhood leaders across metro Atlanta, the images of a Texas pool party turned ugly police confrontation have become an occasion for serious reflection and perhaps for action.
As a mother whose son has seen the wrong end of an officer’s gun, Tomara Thompson of Norcross shuddered at the video of a North Texas cop kneeling on a bikini-clad girl and wondered “what if?”
“It brought back that night with my son and how sensitive and scary it is for a parent with a teenager,” said Thompson, whose son is 17.
As a veteran officer and trainer, DeKalb County public safety chief Cedric Alexander saw the widely decried and hotly debated footage as a teaching moment — not just for police but for entire communities.
“Video has brought to light, for all of us, the opportunity for which we all can do better,” said Alexander, who once worked in Texas and still owns a home near McKinney, the upscale community where the incident took place.
As a leader of an alliance of Fulton County neighborhood associations, Corro’ll Driskell sees the Texas dust-up as a cautionary tale about the pitfalls of teens’ social gatherings — especially when pools are involved.
“I think for an HOA, our worst nightmare is our own kids,” Driskell said.
At its most gripping, the video shot last Friday shows a 14-year-old bikini-clad girl being slammed to the ground by a uniformed officer — who resigned Tuesday, according to his lawyer.
On the video, the officer, Cpl. Eric Casebolt, proceeds to pin the girl beneath his knees while she cries for her mother. When two young men try to come to her aid, Casebolt draws his gun on them.
The video, taken by a white teen, has been viewed online millions of times. Two competing narratives have emerged: Another defenseless and unarmed black teen being manhandled by a white cop; or and a scared police officer in a chaotic situation doing what his training taught him.
Alexander, who was often quoted on police procedure in the wake of Ferguson, said the incident in McKinney holds valuable lessons.
“You had one police officer, who was a supervisor, who over-reacted to a situation and who could have done some things different to help de-escalate the situation,” he said. “That becomes a potential training opportunity. He was the only person running around and swearing.”
Before his resignation, his supervisors had put Casebolt, a 10-year veteran of the force, on administrative leave pending an investigation. His record indicates that he had taken cultural diversity training at a local community college as well as courses in racial profiling and the use of force.
Nevertheless, Alexander said, he clearly made some missteps.
“For one thing, you don’t curse and swear at the general public. And based on what we are seeing on the video, was there a better way that he could have engaged those kids? Sometimes you have to calm them down and get their attention. Help them and be patient, because they are kids.”
But that’s not necessarily the whole story, Alexander said. “Maybe he felt himself being closed in on by these young men.”
In any case, he said, any officer who behaves as Casebolt did has serious questions to answer. “He needs to be asked the question and he needs to be able to justify it.”
There are conflicting stories about what led to the melee. By most accounts, the pool party was being held at an affluent gated community. The host of the party said a white neighbor hurled racial slurs at her and then slapped her. That is when police were called and Casebolt arrived.
Driskell, president of the Regency Oaks Neighborhood Association in unincorporated south Fulton, said the video prompted him to have discussions with other neighborhood association representatives about how to minimize risks. Driskell is also the president of the South Fulton HOA Alliance.
He said teenagers’ natural tendency to congregate in large, fluid groups often runs counter to homeowners’ desire to limit access to their communities. “If it is a member’s only community, (kids) tend to bring in others, and they are not as respectful as the owners.”
Driskell said Regency Oaks recently revised its pool policy to limit homeowners and adults to four pool guests. Those rights don’t transfer to the children in a household. The change was partially prompted by an unauthorized pool party last year.
George E. Nowack Jr., is an attorney for Weissman, Nowack, Curry & Wilco, which represents between 800-1000 HOAs. The firm also publishes the “Georgia HOA and Condo Law Blog.”
He said pools can bring major problems. Last year, he was called by an HOA he represents to shut down a pool party that was offering all the food participants could eat for $5, if they brought their own alcohol.
“I tell HOAs, that they have to know the number of people who have been invited, set a limit and don’t waver,” Nowack said. “If it is a party for a teen or child, the host or parent has to be at the party the whole time.”
As for Thompson, she said her son has had two unfortunate interactions with police. Last summer, right after Ferguson exploded, she said he walked into a Norcross Target with a group of friends. They split up in the store and the cameras caught some of them stealing.
All of them were detained when they left the store.
Her son “got mouthy with an officer, because he was offended by being accused of stealing,” Thompson said. “He kept saying, ‘This is not Ferguson.’ He felt like he was being treated like a criminal.”
Her son was handcuffed, put in the back of a police car and questioned. But he was released.
“I was happy and mad,” Thompson said. “I believed him, but I wasn’t happy that he mouthed off, that he was adding fuel to the fire.”
Earlier this year, Thompson refused to let her son attend a party because he refused her request to meet the parents who were hosting the event. He got angry and repeatedly kicked her car. She called the police on her son.
They came with guns out. Thompson cried that he was only 16 years old, and they put their guns up and picked up their Tasers and batons before settling him down.
“It was pretty frightening,” Thompson said. “And he is still traumatized by that.”
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