DALLAS — A Texas police officer had answered back-to-back suicide calls and was fraught with emotion when he responded to a report of a fight at a pool party where he wrestled a black teenage girl to the ground, his lawyer said Wednesday, hours after activists called for prosecutors to charge him.
Attorney Jane Bishkin said David Eric Casebolt, known to friends and family as Eric, apologizes for his treatment of the girl and to others offended by his actions Friday at a community pool in the Dallas suburb of McKinney.
“With all that happened that day, he allowed his emotions to get the better of him,” Bishkin said.
However, the attorney for Dajerria Becton, the 15-year-old girl, said that while her client’s family appreciated the apology, stress is not an adequate defense.”There are appropriate ways to handle stress, and Officer Casebolt’s actions were in no way appropriate,” Hannah Stroud said.
