Brandon Brooks, a 15-year-old from McKinney, Texas, posted the video of police responding to a “disturbance” at the Craig Ranch North community pool on Friday, June 5.
The video has now gone viral, leading to protests in McKinney and calls for the officer seen in the video, Corporal Eric Casebolt, to be fired and arrested for violently throwing a 15-year-old girl to the ground and pointing his gun at two unarmed teens.
Here’s what you need to know:
1. He Says He Seemed to be ‘Invisible’ to the Cop
Brandon Brooks, 15, filmed the McKinney pool party incident and posted it online.
Brooks, who is white, filmed Casebolt targeting mainly black teens. He told Buzzfeed News, “Everyone who was getting put on the ground was black, Mexican, Arabic. [The cop] didn’t even look at me. It was kind of like I was invisible.”
Brooks said the police were called after a fight between a white mom and a black teen. He said when police showed up, the parents were yelling that there needed to be more cops because “there’s too many of them.” But Brooks said most of the teens weren’t involved in the fight.
“I was one of the only white people in the area when that was happening,” Brooks told CW33. You can see in part of the video where he tells us to sit down, and he kinda like skips over me and tells all my African-American friends to go sit down.”
2. He Says He Thought Casebolt Was Going to Shoot the Teens When He Pulled Out His Gun
Brooks told CW33 that Casebolt showed up at the scene and “he trips and drops his flashlight. He’s going crazy, putting people in handcuffs, tackling people, slinging them on the ground.”
Casebolt can be seen in Brooks’ video dragging 15-year-old Dajerria Becton to the ground. Two other black teens move close to the officer, yelling at him, and he turns, draws his gun and points it at them. Casebolt was held back by two other officers while the teens ran off.
Brooks said told CW33 about that moment, “When he pulled his gun my heart dropped. As soon as he pulled out his gun, I thought he was going to shoot that kid. That was very scary.”
He told Fox 4 News, “…I was scared that someone was going to get shot and possibly killed, so I knew I had to keep on filming like, ‘cause…I got really scared when he pulled out his gun.”
3. He Says Police Haven’t Talked to Him About the Video or the Incident
Brooks told Fox 4 News that he has not been contacted by police to make a statement about his video and what he experienced at the pool.
4. He Is Being Praised on Twitter as a ‘Hero’ for Shooting the Video
Here is Brandon Brooks (left) who shot the viral #McKinney pool party video. A hero before age 18. http://t.co/M7LxhkQqtv
Brooks is being praised as a “hero” on Twitter for his bravery in filming the incident and then posting it to YouTube:
@bb10311999 Thank you for filming what happened in McKinney! You’re a hero!
Good morning @bb10311999 you were very brave to record this injustice around the world are watching your video.
5. His Video Led to the Suspension & Investigation Into Casebolt’s Actions
(YouTube)
Brooks posted the 7-minute video on Saturday, a day after the fight. On Sunday, McKinney Police announced that Casebolt had been put on administrative leave while his actions during the incident are investigated. Brooks said Casebolt’s actions were different from the other officers.
“I thought it was out of line compared to the other officers,” Brooks told Fox 4 News. “The other officers acted very professional.”
The video has been watched more than 8 million times on YouTube as of Tuesday.
Brooks also spoke out against the comments being left on his video. He told CW33, “They’re just going to discriminate against them because they’re black. What if that was your kid getting slung to the ground? Would you still be talking about them in the way that you are?”
