McKinney, Texas Police Video

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(06-08-2015, 12:01 PM)Benton Wrote: Didn't really see any racial issue, or issue with force. The officer probably shouldn't have pulled a firearm, but it's not possible to say what was going through his mind when faced with that many people who aren't listening.

FWIW, the kids weren't supposed to be there. They were trespassing. They were being unruly in a pool that they weren't supposed to be at. They were asked to leave and didn't. An officer was within his rights to physically remove them.

Interesting that the above post provides context and insight those before it lacked. Also interesting the above post notes officers were dispersing a crowd which was the purpose of this call - to remove a crowd of people trespassing on private property. So, not an easy call, and you can see the level of cooperation of the trespassers was less than stellar. Not sure if their thoughts were more along the lines of I ignore all authority figures, or this is the new game - defy the cops and get yourself on video baiting a confrontation - and I want to play, or something else, but I would suggest the crowd members who failed to disperse and "played the game" contributed to the escalation as much as the cops did. I really think the condemnation of the officer is overboard.

Being a cop is a very difficult job, often being done by people with limited skills and training. And, for every person armchair quarterbacking, I really hope you never have to deal with a situation like the one in the video with you playing the part of the non-dispersing crowd member, the property owner overwhelmed by trespassers, or a cop. But if you do, your armchair assessment might be a little different.