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

This article is more than 5 years old

This article is more than 5 years old

A Texas police officer has been suspended after video posted online showed him breaking up a pool party in an extremely aggressive manner, including drawing his gun.

Texas pool party incident: teen in video says cop provoked by 'rudeness' Read more

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 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 fucking 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.

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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.”

As press interest in the video increased the mayor of McKinney, Brian Loughmiller, issued a statement. He said: “Having seen the YouTube video, I am disturbed and concerned by the incident and actions depicted in the video.

“Our expectation as a city council is that our police department and other departments will act professionally and with appropriate restraint relative to the situation they are faced with.”