There's just simply no excuse for how this police officer responded to a call about a pool party.
A McKinney, Texas, pool party turns violent after police show up ready for a fight.Trigger warning: discussion about police violence.
On the morning of June 6, 2015, a video began making the rounds across social media featuring police responding to a 911 call.
It starts with an officer screaming, "Move!" before doing a barrel roll into the grass and running off. The entire scene looked like something out of an action movie.
Image via Brandon Brooks.
From the video, it's not immediately clear what this is in response to. There doesn't appear to be anyone in imminent danger. There don't seem to be any weapons present.
So what was it that brought the McKinney Police Department to respond like this?
A pool party. Yep.
On their Facebook page, the McKinney Police Department offered an explanation for the call.
It reads:
"Pool Party Incident:
On June 5, 2015 at approximately 7:15 p.m., officers from the McKinney Police Department responded to a disturbance at the Craig Ranch North Community Pool. The initial call came in as a disturbance involving multiple juveniles at the location, who do not live in the area or have permission to be there, refusing to leave. McKinney Police received several additional calls related to this incident advising that juveniles were now actively fighting.
First responding officers encountered a large crowd that refused to comply with police commands. Nine additional units responded to the scene. Officers were eventually able to gain control of the situation.
McKinney Police later learned of a video that was taken at the scene by an unknown party. This video has raised concerns that are being investigated by the McKinney Police Department. At this time, one of the responding officers has been placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of this investigation."
In the video, Officer Eric Casebolt is seen handcuffing bystanders, throwing a teen girl to the ground, and pulling his gun on the crowd.
15-year-old Brandon Brooks, who shot the video, told BuzzFeed that the situation appeared to be racially motivated. “I think a bunch of white parents were angry that a bunch of black kids who don't live in the neighborhood were in the pool," said Brooks, who is white. “Everyone who was getting put on the ground was black, Mexican, Arabic. [The cop] didn't even look at me. It was kind of like I was invisible."
Image via Brandon Brooks.
Local reporter Zahid Arab tweeted out a photo placed at the pool thanking the police officers for their action.
Almost immediately, Twitter users responded, rallying around the #McKinney hashtag.
The Southern Poverty Law Center tweeted out a post as a reminder of the country's history of racially segregated swimming pools.
The contrast in this picture, however, might be one of the most powerful looks at how police treat white people as opposed to how they treat people of color.
On the left, there's Officer Casebolt, pinning an unarmed teenage girl to the ground with his knee. On the right, we see the primarily white group of bikers allegedly involved in a fatal shooting just two hours away from McKinney.
If there's one thing to heartened by, it's that all this was caught on camera.
It's become sad but necessary for the public to film the world around them to document these atrocities. It would be naive to treat police violence as a new phenomenon; it's just that cellphone cameras have made recording it that much easier.
Putting an end to police violence means we must begin holding officers accountable for their actions and not simply putting them on paid leave (like Officer Casebolt).
There's a reason why some people can perfectly copy accents, and others can't
Turns out, there's a neurodivergent link.
A woman in black long sleeve shirt stands in front of mirror.
Have you ever had that friend who goes on vacation for four days to London and comes back with a full-on Queen's English posh accent? "Oooh I left my brolly in the loo," they say, and you respond, "But you're from Colorado!" Well, there are reasons they (and many of us) do that, and usually it's on a pretty subconscious level.
It's called "accent mirroring," and it's actually quite common with people who are neurodivergent, particularly those with ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder). According Neurolaunch, the self-described "Free Mental Health Library," "Accent mirroring, also known as accent adaptation or phonetic convergence, is the tendency to unconsciously adopt the accent or speech patterns of those around us. This linguistic chameleon effect is not unique to individuals with ADHD, but it appears to be more pronounced and frequent in this population."
Essentially, when people have conversations, we're constantly "scanning" for information—not just the words we're absorbing, but the inflection and tone. "When we hear an accent, our brains automatically analyze and categorize the phonetic features, prosody, and intonation patterns," writes Neurolaunch. For most, this does result in copying the accent of the person with whom we're speaking. But those with ADHD might be more sensitive to auditory cues. This, "coupled with a reduced ability to filter out or inhibit the impulse to mimic…could potentially explain the increased tendency for accent mirroring."
While the article explains further research is needed, they distinctly state that, "Accent mirroring in individuals with ADHD often manifests as an unconscious mimicry of accents in social situations. This can range from subtle shifts in pronunciation to more noticeable changes in intonation and speech rhythm. For example, a person with ADHD might find themselves unconsciously adopting a Southern drawl when conversing with someone from Texas, even if they’ve never lived in the South themselves."
People are having their say online. On the subreddit r/ADHDWomen, a thread began: "Taking on accents is an ADHD thing?" The OP shares, "My whole life, I've picked up accents. I, myself, never noticed, but everyone around me would be like, 'Why are you talking like that??' It could be after I watched a show or movie with an accent or after I've traveled somewhere with a different accent than my 'normal.'
They continue, "Apparently, I pick it up fast, but it fades out slowly. Today... I'm scrolling Instagram, I watch a reel from a comedian couple (Darcy and Jeremy. IYKYK) about how Darcy (ADHD) picks up accents everywhere they go. It's called ADHD Mirroring??? And it's another way of masking."
(The OP is referring to Darcy Michaels and his husband Jeremy Baer, who are both touring comedians based in Canada.)
Hundreds of people on the Reddit thread alone seem to relate. One comments, "Omfg I've done this my whole life; I'll even pick up on the pauses/spaces when I'm talking to someone who is ESL—but English is my first language lol."
Sometimes, it can be a real issue for those around the chameleon. "I accidentally mimicked a waitress's weird laugh one time. As soon as she was out of earshot, my family started to reprimand me, but I was already like 'oh my god I don’t know why I did that, I feel so bad.'"
Many commenters on TikTok were shocked to find out this can be a sign of ADHD. One jokes, "Omg, yes, at a store the cashier was talking to me and she was French. She's like 'Oh are you French too? No, I'm not lol. I'm very east coast Canada."
And some people just embrace it and make it work for them. "I mirror their words or phrase! I’m 30. I realized I start calling everyone sweetie cause my manager does & I work at coffee shop."