McKINNEY — From outside the fence, it looked like an ordinary pool party. Kids whizzed down water slides, their splashes spilling onto the concrete. Music blasted over speakers.
But this event at the Apex Center honoring high school graduates marked the third anniversary of the infamous Craig Ranch pool party where a white police officer slammed a bikini-clad black teenage girl to the ground.
Video from the incident made the city part of the national debate about how police treat minorities. It also drove three lawsuits by attorney Kim Cole that were dismissed in a settlement announced a month ago.
The girl who was pinned to the ground in the video, Dajerria Becton, and several other teenagers involved in the lawsuit graduated from high school this year. Cole decided to throw another pool party to honor them and unify the community now that the settlement had been reached.
“They’re starting their lives as adults. I just wanted to take some time to celebrate them and give them the pool party that they didn’t have,” she said.
But Becton and the other teenagers involved in the settlement did not attend the party, which drew about 60 people.
