Sean Toon, who called police to complain about group of black teenagers trying to enter a party on Friday, was jailed for violent behaviour and animal torture

This article is more than 5 years old

This article is more than 5 years old

The man who called 911 to complain about a group of black teenagers at a pool party in Texas, and defended the controversial police response as a “good amount of aggression”, is a convicted felon who spent time in jail for violent behaviour and torturing animals.



Sean Toon. Photograph: Supplied

Sean Toon was sentenced to more than nine months in jail after pleading guilty to killing and maiming prize farm animals and covering them in paint, according to court records in Texas. He was separately sentenced to two and a half months for an assault.

Toon, 33, called police on Friday to allege that a group of predominantly African American young people were climbing over fences to get into a party and cookout at a community pool in his neighbourhood of Craig Ranch in McKinney, a suburb of Dallas.

Corporal Eric Casebolt resigned from the McKinney police department on Tuesday amid a growing outcry from protesters and activists over video footage showing him roughly manhandling a black teenage girl and pointing his handgun at two black teenage boys.

McKinney officer regrets pool incident but viewed teens as 'possible suspects' Read more

His attorney defended Casebolt on Wednesday, and said the video showed only a small part of his actions that day.

In an interview with Fox News this week, Toon also defended Casebolt. “It was chaos when he arrived there and he kind of had to match that situation with a good amount of aggression to kind of calm the crowd down,” he said.

Toon said the teenagers had started the dispute by accusing residents of racism for alerting a security guard to fence jumpers. He also accused the crowd of intimidating his seven-year-old child.

Toon complained that the neighbourhood had a problem with “out of control kids”.

As a teenager, Toon had two serious encounters with the criminal justice system. He could not be reached for an interview. Asked whether he had any comment about his past crimes, his wife said in a text message: “In the end you will get what you deserve.”

In November 1999, aged 18, Toon and three high school friends were arrested and expelled from school after vandalising the agricultural centre of a rival high school district and attacking animals housed there, many of which were owned and cared for by school children.

“Cows and pigs were cut and bruised, apparently beaten with wooden boards. And baby turkeys were slain, their limbs torn apart,” the Dallas Morning News reported at the time. Dale Gardner, a teacher in the school district’s agriscience and technology program, told the newspaper: “It was brutal. There’s no way to describe it. I’ve never seen anything like it.”

About a dozen prize turkeys, which were reportedly being bred by a student aiming to win money for his scholarship fund, were feared killed.

Animals and buildings were covered in green and gold paint, according to reports. These were the colours of Toon’s high school, Newman Smith, whose football team rivalled that of RL Turner High, whose students used the agricultural centre.

Some reports said the teams were preparing to play the following night while some said Newman Smith’s team had already trounced RL Turner’s.

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Toon’s brother, Matthew, was quoted as telling reporters that his brother was innocent and had been at a cinema at the time of the incident. Yet according to court records, Toon pleaded guilty to felony criminal mischief and was sentenced in August 2000 to 285 days in jail and fined $300. His three friends were also punished for the incident.

A Dallas County court clerk confirmed details of the case on Wednesday but was unable to confirm how long Toon served in jail.

In September 2000, Toon was charged in nearby Denton County with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, according to court records. After pleading guilty to an unspecified lesser charge, Toon was sentenced to 75 days in jail.

Further records on the case could not immediately be retrieved on Wednesday. Toon appears to have been released due to credit earned from time he had already served.

Asked for comments on last week’s incident, Toon’s wife said in another text message: “He’s already made his statement on national television. Nothing more to say.”