NEW YORK
A white U.S. police officer, who was filmed slamming a black teenaged girl to the ground and pulling his gun on other black teenagers in Texas, has resigned from the force, authorities said Tuesday.
In the video that went viral since being published Friday on social media, Eric Casebolt was seen wrestling 15-year-old Dajerria Becton to the ground, pinning her down with his knees and pointing his gun toward other unarmed black teens.
Police said that the officer in question went out of control when he responded to disturbance reports at a pool party in the city of McKinney.
Announcing Casebolt's resignation, McKinney police chief Greg Conley said the officer's actions were "indefensible".
"Our policies, our training and our practice do not support his actions," Conley told reporters in a televised press conference, saying that the 41-year-old officer was "out of control during the incident".
Casebolt had been put on administrative leave following the release of the seven-minute video, which also shows him using profane language with the teenagers.
As of Tuesday night, the clip had been viewed more than 10.2 million times on YouTube.
"I had 12 officers on the scene and 11 of them performed according to their training," Conley added.
The incident came on the heels of a string of police-involved killings of blacks across the country, including deaths of Michael Brown in Missouri, Eric Garner in New York, Walter Scott in South Carolina and Freddie Gray in Baltimore, among others.
The incidents have stirred racial tensions, setting off nationwide protests over perceived injustices within the U.S. justice system.
