The raging controversy surrounding the teen-tackling Texas cop shows that people forget police officers are human beings, says Tom Verni, a retired NYPD detective and police training expert.
"Police officers are human and we're not robots," Verni said Thursday on "The Steve Malzberg Show" on
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"It kind of makes cops very apprehensive to want to do their jobs out of fear that they're going to be roasted over the coals by public perception, which nowadays seems to be nine-tens of the law as well as the media."
Officer David Eric Casebolt resigned Tuesday from the McKinney Police Department after almost 10 years on the force.
A viral video showed him pushing a bikini-clad teenage girl to the ground and brandishing his gun at other black teens after he and fellow officers responded to complaints about fighting at a community pool party.
The incident sparked outrage in the community, with many demanding Casebolt's immediate dismissal.
"I'm actually surprised and a little disheartened that he decided that he needed to step down and I'm sure him resigning prematurely was a very inside political move where he was probably forced to do that," Verni told Steve Malzberg.
"I find it hard to believe that he would do that under his own power and on his own will based on this particular incident."
Verdi said Casebolt had a rough morning earlier that day, working on a suicide case.
"Could he have come into this situation and done things differently and not have been as high strung as he was? Yes. In an ideal situation … Would I have handled it that way? I don't know," he said.
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