Texas Pool Cop: His Name is Eric Casebolt and He Just Resigned (BREAKING)

June 9, 2015 Ademo Freeman 1327 Views Accountability, Ademo Freeman, Brutality, Civil rights, cop block, copblock, copblock.org, Corruption, double-standards, Eric Casebolt, excessive force, film the police, Filming police, Harassment, Justice System, McKinney, McKinney Texas, no victim no crime, police, police abuse, police accountability, Police brutality, Police State, Texas, texas pool cop, TX, Update, video

By now you’ve probably seen the video above showing a McKinney, TX police officer acting a complete fool at a kids pool party. From throwing young adults to the ground and pulling his gun on others, this cop went completely berserk over a kids pool party. In the last two days we’ve learned a number of things about this incident and the officer involved. Below are some of those details and the breaking news that Eric has formally resigned from his job with the McKinney Police department.

His name is Eric Casebolt

Eric Casebolt has been in the business of government provided protection service most of his life. He was a Navy Military Police officer before joining the McKinney Police department in 2005. In 2008 he was the “Officer of the Year” and this year he was promoted to Patrol Supervisor. Before Sunday the only known mark on his career is a claim of inappropriate touching and racial bias stemming from a stop in 2007, details here.

Eric Casebolt seems to be your stereotypical cop. He’s white, he came from the military and even though he’s had complaints against him (even if just one) he’s still been promoted while being honored with “cop of the year” awards. All of this probably doesn’t mean much for this exact case in question but I’d be willing to bet that there is a pattern here. Yet, I’ll save that for another blog post on another day.

Eric quits the Force

While Eric and his family remain in hiding, as they fear for their lives (allegedly), there’s at least one conclusion to this wild tail and that was shared publicly via his attorney today. Eric will no longer be employed with the McKinney Police force and handed in his resignation today. According to an ABC affiliate in TX:

Casebolt’s resignation was confirmed about one hour earlier by attorney Jane Bishkin, who told WFAA that the decision was made after a meeting with the department’s internal affairs unit to review possible charges her client could face.

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While I think it’s the right move for police departments to remove themselves of the liability these types of officers put on their departments, this seems more like a PR stunt than actual justice. The justice, IMO, is up to those who Eric harmed but in this world the police and prosecutors decide such things. The ABC article mentions the decision to resign was after a meeting with the very people who would have charge Eric with a crime, if they saw fit. So you can’t help but wonder, did Eric avoid a criminal case by walking away from the force? Does resigning allow him to collect his government pension? Does it prevent him from working for another police department?

All these questions are important because if Eric is still going to be able to be employed as a police officer, I feel many would find that troubling. If Chief Greg Conley wants to maintain his position that Eric was, “out of control during the incident”, then they might want to pursue charges. How would Conley feel if his problem merely became some other departments problem? What if that time he actually kills someone? This is why it should be clear that he’s not just resigning but retiring from government protection services completely.

This isn’t to say that Eric Casebolt can’t make right, learn from his mistake and better himself. I’m speaking from the police department’s perspective of having him as an employee being a huge liability at this point. I hope that Eric takes the time to reflect on this matter and address any concerns so he can move past them. Maybe the silver lining in the clouds here is that Eric will have to actually prove his protection skills to those who may need it in the future. Since he’ll no longer be able to work for the government which is able to pay him regardless of the service he provides and with that we might actually be a step closer to fixing the major issues with policing today. Albeit a very small step.

VIDEO OF RESIGNMENT CONFERENCE

Read Larry’s, a CopBlock.org contributor, piece on McKinney asking, “Did Race Play A Role in Actions of Out of Control Police Officer” here.