Texas Teen Says Cops in Pool Party Fracas Were Driven by Race

A Texas teen says she believes the police officer who got violent with a teenage girl at a Dallas area pool party over the weekend was driven by racial prejudice.

Jahda Bakari, 13, recorded the now widely-watched video of a white police officer dragging a young black girl in a bikini by her hair and sitting on her back during an arrest. At one point the officer can be seen pulling his gun on a group of teens that attempted to intervene.

“I honestly believe it was about race because mostly they did nothing to the Caucasians,” Bakari said, according to CBS News.

Police were reportedly responding to calls about kids at the Craig Ranch North Community Pool in McKinney, Texas. The community is mostly white, but a lot of the kids at the pool party were black. According to the McKinney Police Department, the officers said they “encountered a large crowd that refused to comply with police commands.”

Bakari said she believed the officer, who is now on administrative leave, was going to hurt someone.

The video of the violent encounter led local officials to launch an investigation into the officers’ response, and one officer has been placed on administrative leave.

[CBS]

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