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This weekend a nice, suburban Dallas neighborhood was saved from a black, bikini-clad 15-year-old girl who might have done God knows what if a police officer hadn't tackled the girl to the ground, pinned her with his knees, and handcuffed her. That's what we have to conclude after watching a viral video of the incident. My goodness, was she carrying a weapon? Was she an undercover agent of Isis? Or was she just caught being a black teenager?!?
Turns out the girl, Dajerria Becton, was an invited guest at the Craig Ranch North community pool. She and her friends showed up for some ordinary summer fun in a predominantly white neighborhood. According to reports, a mom at the pool took issue with some of the other black guests and told them they should go back to public housing. (Great example, lady!)
This provocation led to a fight that the pool. But witnesses say police targeted only people of color, including innocent bystanders like Becton. The teen resisted, trying to tell the officer she wasn't involved in the fight. When other kids tried to help her the officer pulled out a gun on them. Seriously!
"I felt like he was actually getting ready to hurt someone," 13-year-old Jahda Bakari later told CBS News. "I honestly believe it was about race because mostly they did nothing to the Caucasians."
Bakari went on to explain that the police raid caused confusion -- kids were unsure which was the wisest course of action. "They were trying to make us leave, but if we ran, they'd chase after us, and if we stayed, then they'd arrest us," she says.
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In the video, taken by a white teen named Brandon Brooks, you can see police chasing down black teens. Brandon and his friend are treated respectfully. Becton was walking calmly away from the scene, just as she'd been ordered to by police, when one of the officers yanked her back. Meanwhile, Brooks later said in an interview, he was "basically invisible" to the police.
If I were a parent of this teenage girl I'd be horrified. To see your daughter getting tackled by a grown man, and in such a vulnerable state, too! (IN A BIKINI!) And all because she turned up at a pool party and wasn't sure where to go when a fight broke up.
At least the police officer who tackled the teenage girl has been placed on administrative leave.
What an embarrassing overreaction for this community. Obviously the kids who participated in the fight should not have reacted to the racist attack, but come on. It sounds like the neighborhood was threatened at the sight of some black kids, picked a fight, and then let the police finish the job for them. All of that was unnecessary.
One thing gives me hope, though. Clearly the kids were okay hanging out together. It was the adults, from the mom who threw out that first insult to the cops who showed up, were the ones with the problem. Maybe the next generation will handle race relations better.
See this video on The Stir by CafeMom.
How would you feel if police treated your daughter this way?
Image via Brandon Brooks/YouTube
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