Texas officer suspended after pool party video shows him pulling gun on teens

[umbertino]

Video posted on YouTube ‘raised concerns’ after it shows the police officer breaking up party in an overly aggressive manner

 

 

Martin Pengelly in New York

@MartinPengelly

 

Sunday 7 June 2015 21.50 BST

 

 

 

A Texas police officer has been suspended after

showed him breaking up a pool party in an extremely aggressive manner, including drawing his gun.

 

On Friday, units from the McKinney police department were called to the party, at Craig Ranch North Community Pool in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, over reports of a fight. Police said the incident involved “multiple juveniles at the location, who do not live in the area or have permission to be there, refusing to leave”.

 

On Sunday, McKinney police chief Greg Conley spoke to reporters about what followed.

 

“Several concerns about the conduct of one of the officers at the scene have been raised,” local ABC affiliate WFAA8 reported him as saying. “The McKinney police department is committed to treating all persons fairly under the law. We are committed to preserving the peace and safety of our community for all our citizens.”

 

Conley did not name the officer in question, who was not named when his suspension was announced.

 

According to WFAA8, Conley added: “A 14-year-old female was temporarily detained by one of the officers. She was ultimately released to her parents.”

 

Video posted to YouTube on Saturday shows one officer sprinting past the camera, falling and losing his flashlight, then running again.

 

Teenagers are seen returning the flashlight to another officer, who responds politely, before the first officer returns and shouts: “On the ground! I told you to stay! Get your asses on the ground. I told you to stay!”

 

The officer, who was not named when his suspension was announced, is then seen forcing a number of teenagers to lie on a grass verge and a sidewalk and telling others to “get your ass out of here”. Some teenagers are handcuffed.

 

One teenager can be heard saying: “Sir, we just came from a birthday party, please.”

 

Another says: “Officer, I can’t find my bag.”

 

The officer replies: “I don’t care, sit down.”

 

The officer is then shown talking to teenagers on the ground.

 

“Don’t make me run round here with 30 kinds of ******* gear on in the sun,” he says, “because you want to screw around out here.”

 

He then forces a group of bystanders to leave. One, a girl, does not comply and the officer wrestles her to the ground. When other teenagers surround him to remonstrate, he draws his gun. Two other officers move to restrain him, and the officer re-holsters the weapon. He then slams the girl back to the ground, shouting: “On your face!”

 

As the officer appears to sit on the girl to keep her subdued, hectoring her all the while, a voice, possibly that of the person filming the incident, says the officer pulled a gun on the girl.

 

“No I didn’t,” he says, pointing at the camera. “Now get your butts outta here.”

 

The officer is later shown in close-up, lecturing two boys who are sitting on the ground.

 

“You just did what everybody else did,” he says, “and what everybody else did was illegal. You did it and you got caught. Now you’re sitting here paying for it.

 

“I asked y’all to sit,” he adds, “you didn’t and you became a part of the mob. You could’ve been the guys that were doing right and you weren’t, so now you’re sitting here in trouble.”

 

The officer in question is white; most of the teenagers on the video are African American. A number of white men in civilian clothes are also shown.

 

The poster of the YouTube video, named on the site as Brandon Brooks, wrote: “A fight between a mom and a girl broke out and when the cops showed up everyone ran, including the people who didn’t do anything. So the cops just started putting everyone on the ground and in handcuffs for no reason. This kind of force is uncalled for especially on children and innocent bystanders.”

 

 

http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/jun/07/youtube-texas-police-officer-pool-party-arrests

 

[Bunk]

Do You get Your info from msnbc???

[Shabibilicious]

Pool party, eh?........sounds like this cop went off the "deep end".    

 

GO RV, then BV

[jelorenzo95]

What is wrong with this picture?

The lack of RESPECT of an officer.

If only people would obey the authority and when they say sit! You sit! Not run...

So many officers are getting shot for no reason. I'm sure we only see what they want us to see. I see guys running around him (that would make me scared if I was an officer) that he ordered to stay/sit. I see a girl not obeying the command of the officer. If you have no Respect and don't obey the law then you should suffer the outcome. Looks like the officer is trying to get order in the situation that could have turned bad for him. Kids today have been able to get away with murder and sometimes I feel they act in a manner that they can get some "media" time.

It's SAD!

[dog53]

I see a bunch of kids. disrespectful kids granted but none the less kids.  Pull my weapon ?    No way Jose .

What a loser cop.  Sorry but this guy has no business being a policeman if this is his best judgement

 

.

[Jaxinjersey]

Non-compliance, proximity violations... and two boys (men) charged at the officer.  All within a few seconds.  Let's bait the cop!

[umbertino]

Do You get Your info from msnbc???

 It's the "Guardian"..I always report link at the end of all articles

[DinarCash]

Cop should of waited for back-up and I do believe some innocence teenagers were targeted.   

Kids should of obeyed the officers no matter what.  I don't understand teenagers these days in mouthing off to the law. Disrespect the law, you will pay the price.  Step away from the matter and let the officers settle the problem, hovering around being curious, may well be a bad judgment call on your part.   

Some of these kids were bigger than the officer, his action to pulling his weapon was a necessary response.  Cops don't see children, age, black, white or brown, they see themselves in harms way with a mob. 

Some approaches need to be taken with harsh tones and some with calmer, all this cop saw, he was outnumber no matter what. 

Cop saw disobedient people. 

Cops are trained and view the news as well, they know first hand how mobs can get out of hand. 

So call it what you want, it boils down too, you obey the law, and fight it in the courts if you were treated wrong. 

Don't fight the cop, the price you'll pay may be disastrous, your life ending. 

Cops live with the consequences, parents live without their love ones. 

Which do you want.....  

[EagleEye]

well stated Dog....plus excessive force on that 14 year old girl  IMO

[geman]

Weird I was always taught to obey the police, I guess that doesn't matter anymore. god help us.

[Maggie123]

Pool party, eh?........sounds like this cop went off the "deep end".    

 

GO RV, then BV

 

Boy Howdy Shabs

 

I see a bunch of kids. disrespectful kids granted but none the less kids.  Pull my weapon ?    No way Jose .

What a loser cop.  Sorry but this guy has no business being a policeman if this is his best judgement

 

.

 

I know... right Dog?

 

I couldn't open the video from the Guardian so I went to youtube. When the officer is taking down the bikini clad 16 yr old girl (who WAS walking away) and her friends react...the same way as I would BTW... WTH???...When he takes after those boys...there is some fat white dude in blue shorts (civillian?) who holds her head in between his legs (in his crotch)... (see the middle photo below) Was he one of the callers? Was he enjoying this cop's abuse and his sickening intervention on the wacko cop's behalf? Perverts!!!

 

And the cop rolling into a summer salt on the ground and pulling his gun? Did he think he was in some Hollywood movie? Dang!!!

 

He should consider himself lucky that a kid didn't get shot that day because of his crazy over-reactions....

One would think as PROFESSIONAL TRAINED OFFICERS OF THE LAW...they could have reined in this angry, shouting, lunytune-cop and handle the situation calmly...."party is over...time to go home now." The one out of control was that cop JMHO.

 

The police officer is seen drawing his weapon and briefly chases after two black young men.

                                                                   ^^^^^^^

                                           (Phat dude holding the 16 yr old between his legs)

 

 

This is another video...5 minutes and pretty choppy...but it shows more than the 2 min version

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4XoCvd-fNU

[rico1]

JMHO, but it looks like one out of controle cop for just a community pool party. I don't seem to see any threat and at least one cop kept his cool while the other is running around like a chicken whith it's head cut off.

 

Just my take on it.

[divemaster5734]

 

 

 

 

This is another video...5 minutes and pretty choppy...but it shows more than the 2 min version

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4XoCvd-fNU

 

Great post.

 

The short version looks like the cop might have been justified, but the loong version proved he was the main agitator.

His foul mouthed over the top commands and reactions demonstrate he was scared shitless, they were just a bunch of kids.

 

Just what threat did a skinny teen in nothing but a bikini pose?

She was just doing what all teen girls do, trying to get noticed by teen boys.

The 2 kids that ran up after the cop did his bs take-down just reacted to their friend being unfairly hurt.

She was obviously scared to death, she had obviously never been treated like that, and her mind was still trying to grasp the reality of her situation.

 

Everything seemed like it was defused until that jerk cop came running up and made an idiot of himself.

That cop definitely needs a psych exam at least, or to be fired and go back to being a mall cop...

[TrinityeXchange]

thank God for the level headed cops who helped Bully-With-A-Badge come to himself.  when a cop pulls his weapon, the intent is not to threaten.  had it not been for the other officers, we would have witnessed more senseless killing.  

 

a pool party???  cops are called because some attendees were not invited, and all of this madness happens???  someone needs to be retrained.  

[bigwave]

What is wrong with this picture?

The lack of RESPECT of an officer.

If only people would obey the authority and when they say sit! You sit! Not run...

So many officers are getting shot for no reason. I'm sure we only see what they want us to see. I see guys running around him (that would make me scared if I was an officer) that he ordered to stay/sit. I see a girl not obeying the command of the officer. If you have no Respect and don't obey the law then you should suffer the outcome. Looks like the officer is trying to get order in the situation that could have turned bad for him. Kids today have been able to get away with murder and sometimes I feel they act in a manner that they can get some "media" time.

It's SAD!

That's right!

[umbertino]

Grazie Maggie Trinity, rico, dog & DM

Edited June 8, 2015 by umbertino

[umbertino]

And EE

[Markinsa]

And the Other Side of the Story

[DinarCash]

Whether we like it or not there is always two sides to a story.  When viewing this video, it was incomplete, the beginning was never shown, other videos were ignored... what do we expect from the media...truth. 

 

Thanks Markinsa. 

 

Umbertino it would be nice to bring both sides, by your past stories that you bring, I believe you're only one sided.

 

But unfortunately these loud mouth teens made their choice in disrespecting the law.  Unfortunately the officer made his choice of not keeping his cool.  Unfortunately the media portrayed only a partial story, with sensationalism and totally forgot about how the residence felt.  Unfortunately some of us fell for the media side.  Two sides to a story always. 

[Cynthia AH]

After viewing video and reading the article even if the party was not authorized by the HOA I did not read any thing stating the possibility of someone being injured due to not following the pool rules. That police officer did not handle the situation professionally and according to his training. One of those children could have been shot. You only pull your weapon when their is a threat of danger, I did not see any of the children with a weapon. Verbal Disrespect of another person is not a threat of danger, if it was 80% of the population would be dead from threat of danger! Who do we call ?

[Markinsa]

About the officer pulling the Gun.  Perhaps instinct and training kicked in.  See Below:

 

[bigwave]

And the Other Side of the Story

I love cops.

 

Thanks Markinsa

[umbertino]

Quote

Umbertino it would be nice to bring both sides, by your past stories that you bring, I believe you're only one sided.

End Quote

 Everybody can contribute, right? Or should I put 2 articles with diff. views myself every time I post something  which some may find controversial?...Others can and infact ( which is good of course) do it actually

 

Peace out.

 

Edited June 9, 2015 by umbertino

[Thaiexpat]

All your posts are welcome with me, Umberto. I guess some people don't like it if you just post an article that doesn't cheerlead for the Statist party line.

As for the drawing pictures/narratives from still frames of the video: a "shooting stance" is not usually perform in a "wide horse stance". I seriously doubt he thought the TEEN was pulling out a firearm. The audio would have confirmed that as we are trained to yell a warning that someone has gun. (I was trained to say, GUN! GUN! GUN!)

A lot of people are running about (a lot of TEENS to be correct) and this idiot decides to pull his weapon out. Given the track record of these uniformed, state-paid losers, I would expect that if he had fired; he probably would have hit everyone BUT the fellow crouching next to him. From the AUDIO, you can hear this fool itching for a fight and wanting to make trouble-poor communication skills. 

Sorry, but drawing such force out without certainty is WRONG and , yes, I know because I was a State-paid thug for 2 years. I never spoke to anyone in that manner. I was always respectful and never out to prove something. I only drew my weapon when certain the suspect was armed (it happened ONE time).

Dunno, just saying.....and stop COWERING to the Statist.