Fort Worth (WBAP/KLIF News) – Activists held a press conference outside Fort Worth City Hall Monday morning, calling Fort Worth leadership “outrageous” for suspending two assistant chiefs but not firing the officer who arrested Jacqueline Craig.
In December, Craig called police, saying a neighbor had choked her son. Craig got into an argument with the officer who responded. Officer William Martin arrested Craig and her daughters; authorities later said they would not pursue a criminal case against Craig.
Video of Martin’s body camera was leaked to media. Last week, Ft. Worth suspended Assistant Police Chief Abdul Pridgen and Deputy Chief Vance Keyes.
“The City of Fort Worth promotes bad officers and targets good cops,” says Lee Merritt, Craig’s lawyer.
A lawyer for Pridgen says the assistant chief had no role in releasing the video. Last week, Schulte described the suspension as “unwarranted.”
“They weren’t the actions of a rogue officer,” Merritt says. “They were the actions borne out of a system of institutional racism that has given itself away again and again and again.”
Merritt joined leaders from Next Generation Action Network on Monday. They say the case is an example of “institutional racism” in Ft. Worth.
“The Tarrant County District Attorney still has the opportunity to charge Officer Martin,” says the group’s Dominique Alexander.
Fort Worth police say they will not comment on the group’s accusations.
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