Texas cop on leave after clash with teens at pool
MCKINNEY, Tex. -- A police officer in McKinney, Tex., outside Dallas, has been placed on administrative leave after cell phone video surfaced of him pulling his gun on a crowd of teenagers outside a pool party.
Officers responding to a disturbance call at a community pool in the Dallas suburb on Friday were met by "multiple juveniles" refusing to leave, according to the police.
The cell phone video, posted on YouTube, appears to show one officer forcing a young woman in a swimsuit to the ground, then pulling his gun on a group trying to intervene.
"Call my mama! Call my mama! Oh God," she screamed.
The officer then tells her to get on her face, and later kneels on her back.
"It's something we're going to have to look into to determine what we're training as far as the actions of the officers on the scene," said police chief Greg Conley. "Anytime you get around a lot of people it's a very dynamic situation and tensions can rise very quickly."
The incident is just the latest in a series of conflicts between white police officers and black citizens caught on camera.
Last March, images of University of Virginia Student Martese Johnson's bloody arrest outside a bar in Charlottesville sparked public outcry.
And in September, the California Highway Patrol reached a $1.5 million settlement with Marlene Pinnock, after video surfaced of the 51-year-old getting punched repeatedly by an officer.
But the interactions in the Texas video weren't all hostile.
Two young men returned a missing flashlight to one of the officers, who offered this advice: "I'm just saying, don't, don't take up runnin' when the cops get here," before thanking them for returning the light.
Police said they made one arrest and were not aware of any injuries. Everyone else was released to a parent or guardian. Police did not say how long the investigation into the officer would take.