Once again, the nation is fixated on a frightening video of a police officer’s overreaction. This time it happened in McKinney, an affluent Dallas suburb.

Police Cpl. Eric Casebolt, in a shockingly wrong-headed decision, determined last Friday that a group of unwelcome teenagers at a neighborhood pool was a threat so great that it was necessary to throw 15-year-old Dajerria Becton to the ground and pin her with both knees – then brandish his gun at two young men who appeared to be trying to help her.

Casebolt was put on administrative leave, then resigned Tuesday while the city sorted out the scary scenario, captured on a profanity-laced seven-minute video.

Casebolt is white. The obvious question: Would this scene have played out differently had the teens been white instead of black?

Officers had responded after residents of the Craig Ranch subdivision and a private security officer complained that several teens were at the subdivision’s pool without permission.

Other officers on the video can be heard calmly speaking to several teens, but Casebolt is agitated from the beginning. Before he grabbed Becton, he had pulled another teen off his feet, then barked at others to “get your asses on the ground.”

Rather than seeking to control the situation appropriately, Casebolt let the situation control him. It’s a giant understatement to note that these unarmed minors, many in their bare feet and bathing suits, could have been effectively corralled with far less force.

Instead, a petite teenage girl ended up face-down on the ground. It’s doubly disturbing that any officer would respond this way, seemingly blind to the race-related violence that has ravaged other parts of the country.

The video belongs in a police training manual as a prime example of what not to do. Still, as horrific as that video is to watch, perhaps more horrifying is considering the deadly turn it could have taken.

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