In this clip from FOX News, Sean Hannity discusses the controversial video of a police response to a pool party in McKinney, Texas. Hannity attempts to explain away the officer’s decision to draw his weapon, implying that the teenagers had “provoked” him: “When I look at this video, when we slow down this video, the police officer did not pull out the gun on this girl in the bikini here. It was two young men…It seems as if they are provoking him.”
It’s the usual FOX News bait-and-switch, laying the blame on the victims and forgiving the officer’s inexcusable action. Officer Casebolt had thrown an obviously unarmed fifteen-year-old to the ground with excessive force. Hannity implies that the officer was in danger from two boys, who were rushing to the aid of the young woman, and that the cop didn’t pull the gun out on the girl. His guest, a father of one of the partygoers, takes issue with that: “We value the lives of both black boys and girls! What difference does it make if it was pointed at a girl or boy…he pointed a gun at an unarmed teenager. I don’t know any police regulation that allows you to pull your weapon out on unarmed children!”
It’s shocking that Hannity can’t see past his own blinding prejudice to recognize that the officer acted irresponsibly and inappropriately, and that the act of pulling a gun out and manhandling children is somehow an acceptable thing to do. While the vast majority of police officers are far above such behavior, it must not be dismissed when incidents like this does occur. You have to watch it until the end.