A Florida high-school principal has chimed in on the bizarre Texas pool incident that cost a police officer his job, and his comments have led him to the same fate.
After a McKinney, Texas, police officer manhandled a group of black teenagers at a pool party, video of the surreal event was posted online and circulated rapidly. The video clearly shows a white police officer named David Eric Casebolt aggressively slamming a young woman in a bikini to the ground and generally appearing to be out of control in his dealings with a group of teenagers. The police chief has condemned the behavior as “indefensible” and Casebolt has since resigned.
Alberto Iber, the now-former principal of North Miami Senior High School, saw things differently. In a Facebook thread about Casebolt’s outburst, Iber expressed his sympathies for the officer.
“He did nothing wrong,” Iber said in a post that has since been deleted. “He was afraid for his life. I commend him for his actions.”
Miami Herald/Screenshot
One of the responses to Iber’s Facebook comment came from Ambrose Sims, a retired Miami police officer who joined law enforcement at a time of severe racial conflict in the 1980s. “Such a comment reveals to me that you’re a serious part of the problem,” Sims wrote.
Administrators at North Miami Senior High School agreed.
“Judgment is the currency of honesty,” Superintendent of Schools Alberto Carvalho told the Miami Herald regarding Iber’s firing. “Insensitivity—intentional or perceived—is both unacceptable and inconsistent with our policies, but more importantly with our expectation of common sense behavior that elevates the dignity and humanity of all, beginning with children.”
Nearly all (99 percent) of the residents in the district containing Iber’s school are ethnic minorities. Iber has been reassigned to lesser administrative duties. The school has yet to name a replacement.
H/T Miami Herald | Screengrab via Google Maps
