Brooklyn, N.Y. – Congresswoman Yvette D. Clarke released the following statement on the resignation of Officer David Eric Casebolt of McKinney, Texas, who brutally attacked a group of African American teenagers attending a pool party on Friday.

“The violent attack on a fourteen-year-old young woman for the supposed ‘crime’ of visiting a swimming pool was an utterly unacceptable assault on her basic human rights and the legal protections established by our Constitution. The acts of Officer Casebolt – grabbing her by the hair, dragging her to the ground, and stepping on her back, then pointing his gun at her and other guests at the party – demonstrate an appalling disrespect for the humanity of African American teenagers that violates both our shared moral commitment to equality and due process and our laws. I am also deeply concerned that the McKinney Police Department retained Officer Casebolt in a position of authority after allegations of racial profiling and excessive use of force were filed against him in 2007. We need to know whether these serious accusations were fully and impartially investigated at the time. I urge the District Attorney of Collin County, Texas, and the United States Department of Justice to conduct a full investigation of this incident, and to prosecute to the fullest extent of the law the violations of the civil rights of these young women and men, none of whom, incidentally, were charged with any crime or civil infraction.”

Congresswoman Yvette D. Clarke is a member of the Committee on Energy and Commerce in the House of Representatives, a member of the Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing, and Trade, the Subcommittee on Communications and Technology, and the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, as well as the Committee on Ethics and the Committee of Small Business. She represents many neighborhoods in central and southern Brooklyn, NY which include Brownsville, Crown Heights, East Flatbush, Flatbush, Gerritsen Beach, Madison, Midwood, parts of Park Slope and Flatlands, Prospect Heights, Prospect-Lefferts Gardens, Sheepshead Bay, and Windsor Terrace.