Summary: Jane Bishkin, victim of police brutality as shown in a viral video, weighs her options on charging the officer involved. See the full video above.
Now that everybody has built in cameras with our ubiquitous smartphones, and with such distribution methods as YouTube, it only makes sense that something like the fashion for filming police officers doing their duty would become the latest rage. It has inspired endless news stories and led political campaigns to root out unnecessary violence and racism amidst the police force. In this, the seven-minute video of former McKinney police officer Cpl. Eric Casebolt is more of the same.
The video establishes a narrative where the cop takes down a 15-year-old girl, and when two young men stand up to help her he unholsters his weapon.
“The video only depicts a small part of Eric’s actions that day,” argued his attorney, Jane Bishkin. And to offer more context to the excessive violence, she explained that the officer had responded to two suicide calls earlier that day, and they upset him.
“And the nature of these two suicide calls took an emotional toll on Eric Casebolt,” she said.
“Ultimately, the manner in which Ms. Becton was treated was inappropriate, excessive, and without cause,” said Hannah Stroud, who is representing Dajerria Becton, the teenager who had her face shoved into the ground.
Nevertheless, charges have not been directed at the officer, who has nevertheless decided to resign from the force as of Tuesday. Before an investigation will be made into the incident, Becton must make her move.
As Peter Schulte, attorney and former McKinney police reserve officer explains, “There has to be a victim that wants to press charges and wants to cooperate with an investigation.”
Up to this point, Becton has not made that move, though charges of excessive force or assault could be made.
“We, along with our client, want to work with the city of McKinney and the police department to make sure a thorough investigation takes place” said Stroud.
News Source: USAToday