A Texas police officer has been placed on restricted duty after an encounter, captured on film, in which the white officer wrestled and arrested a black woman who had called police claiming her seven-year-old son was assaulted by a neighbor for littering.
Jacqueline Craig, 46, called the Fort Worth Police Department to report that, according to her daughter, a man had grabbed her young son by the neck after the boy littered. The officer, only identified as "Martin" in the video, arrived at the scene. A relative of Craig recorded the encounter with police on Facebook Live.
In the Facebook video, which has been viewed more than one million times, the officer stands stone-faced as Craig explains, with the neighbor present, what allegedly occurred in their southwest Fort Worth neighborhood.
"My son is seven years old," Craig said, requesting the man should have come to her rather than taking discipline into his own hands. "You don't have the right to grab him, choke him behind no paper that he threw … don't put your hands on my son."
The officer then replied: "Why don't you teach your son not to litter?"
Craig responded, "It doesn't matter if he did [litter] or didn't, that doesn't give him the right to put his hands on him."
"Why not?" the officer then said.
"Because he don't!" Craig said, leading to gradual escalation of tension at the scene.
"You keep yelling at me, you're gonna piss me off and I'm gonna take you to jail," the cop said.
Then a young woman, one of Craig's daughters, attempted to push her mother away from the cop, leading the officer to attempt to apprehend the young woman, a 15-year old, according to the person filming — Porsha Craver, Craig's cousin — and news reports.
The officer then quickly changed his focus to Craig, handcuffing her on the ground. She was arrested on charges of resisting arrest and for outstanding traffic warrants, according to KERA. The officer eventually apprehended the 15-year-old daughter and the person filming.
Craig and her 19-year-old daughter, Brea Hymond, who was also arrested and charged with resisting arrest, were released Thursday afternoon, according to the family's attorney. The 15-year-old daughter was released from a juvenile detention center at around midnight, KERA reported.
The officer pulled out his Taser during the arrest, pointing it at Craig's family members. It is not clear if he used it, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported.
The Fort Worth Police Department said its Internal Affairs Unit had begun an investigation into the matter, adding that interviews with the arrestees were part of the probe. Because of the investigation, the department is not identifying the officer.
"We acknowledge that the initial appearance of the video may raise serious questions," the department said in a statement. "We ask that our investigators are given the time and opportunity to thoroughly examine this incident and to submit their findings."
"We ask our community for patience and calm during this investigation process," the department added.
The Craig family and their attorneys will hold a press conference outside the Fort Worth Police Department at 6:00pm local time on Thursday, attorney S. Lee Merritt tweeted. A rally in protest of the arrests is scheduled to occur afterwards at 6:30pm outside the Tarrant County Courthouse, KERA reported.