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5 facts surrounding the viral Fort Worth police video

While there are many speculations surrounding the Fort Worth police officer viral video case as more details emerge, here are some facts.

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Woman Calls Police To Report A Man Assaulted Her Son, Fort Worth Police Arrest Her Instead

A video that has now gone viral of a woman and her two teenage daughters being antagonized and arrested by a Fort Worth police officer Wednesday December 21st, is causing an uproar. Family and community members are calling for the immediate firing of the officer, who has yet to be identified.

5 facts of Fort Worth police viral video

The woman has been identified as Jacqueline Craig, her 19 year-old daughter Bea Haymond, and her 15-year-old daughter who were arrested on various charges and released on Thursday night.

While there are many speculations surrounding the case as more details emerge, here are some facts:

1. Jacqueline Craig called Fort Worth, TX police to report an alleged assault on her 7-year-old son by a neighbor. Officer tells Craig “Teach Your Son Not To Litter”

woman arrested by fort worth police for calling them about assault on son

Jacqueline Craig, who lives in a neighborhood in a Fort Worth TX area, called the police after her daughter and son came to her saying a neighbor, which she knows, allegedly put her son in a choke hold for apparently “littering”.

After briefly speaking with the man (the neighbor), the police officer walks over to Jacqueline Craig and says: “What’s going on with you?”

“My daughter and son came home, saying that this man grabbed him and choked him,” the mother said as her daughter recorded. “I came around here and asked him. I said, ‘Why did you put your hands on my son?’ He said, ‘Oh, he threw some paper and I told him to pick it up.’ He said he defied him and that’s why he did it…you don’t have the right to choke somebody’s son. My son is 7-years-old, you don’t have the right to grab him and choke him.”

“He can’t prove to me that he did or didn’t, but it doesn’t matter,” the mother said. “That doesn’t give him the right to put his hands on him.” The officer then responded, “Why not?”

Things now go to another level. At this point, Jacqueline Craig, visibly upset told the officer that he didn’t know what she taught her children, made it clear that he was wrong for interrogating her in the manner he was instead of the man that assaulted her 7-year-old son.

The officer, completely suffering from selective memory forgetting that he had not just suggested that the man had a right to assault her child, asked, “Why are you yelling?” She explained that she was “pissed off” that he would even suggest that her son deserved to be assaulted and questioned her parenting skills, to which he responded, “If you keep yelling at me, you’re going to piss me off and I’m going take you to jail.”

Jacqueline Craig and her two daughters would be arrested after that without provocation.

 

Fort Worth police officer viral video

2. Jacqueline Craig face charges including resisting arrest and was released Thursday.

Jacqueline

Photo Source: Facebook

Jacqueline Craig was charged with resisting arrest and failure to identify, according to court records. Jacqueline Craig was also arrested on warrants from the Irving Police Department for traffic charges, including driving with a suspended license, failure to maintain financial responsibility and speeding. She was being held on a total of $5,901.90 bail.

Jacqueline

According to their lawyer, S. Lee Merritt, Jacqueline Craig and her daughters were released on Thursday.

3. The officer has been placed on restricted duty pending an internal investigation

Fort Worth police officer video

The officer, who has not been identified, has been placed on restricted duty status pending an internal investigation.

In a statement released on Facebook, the Fort Worth police department said they received information about a video post around 10 p.m. Wednesday, December 21st and that there is an internal review in process.

We acknowledge that the initial appearance of the video may raise serious questions. We ask that our investigators are given the time and opportunity to thoroughly examine this incident and to submit their findings. This process may take time, but the integrity of the investigation rests upon the ability of the investigators to document facts and to accurately evaluate the size and scope of what transpired. We ask our community for patience and calm during this investigation process.

statement

4.A Protest Was Held at Tarrant County Courthouse on Thursday, December 22nd

Protesters rallied behind Jacqueline Craig and her daughters during a protest at Tarrant County Courthouse in Fort Wort, TX.

About 150 protesters gathered in downtown Fort Worth, TX at Tarrant County Courthouse at 7 p.m. on Thursday

“It’s time to stand up and protect your community,” LaShadion Anthony said. “If you came out here for a kumbaya, you came to the wrong place.” Fort Worth pastor Sharon Mason Ford-Turner said Craig called police for help and received none. “When we call the Fort Worth PD, we want help. Not to be arrested,” she said. “She called him to help. And he questioned her.” Activist Dominique Alexander of the Next Generation Action Network called on Fort Worth Police Department’s leadership to “do the right thing.”

5. The family has vowed to get the officer fired and has set up a GoFundMe for Jacqueline Craig and her family.

The family of Jacqueline Craig and her daughters said they vow to get the officer fired for his actions.

Porsha Craver, Craig’s niece, who posted the video, addressed the viewer at the end, saying they want the video seen by as many people as possible.

“I just want you all to see how the Fort Worth Police Department treated my family after calling them for a racist man putting his hands on a 7-year-old, my 7-year-old little cousin, who couldn’t defend himself. When they called Fort Worth Police, this is what we got,” Craver said. “These motherf*cking racist-a*s officers, who clearly are not here for us. Racist b*tches. … We want everybody to see this s*it, how Fort Worth Police Department is here to treat people, and what this racist a*s police did. He deserves to lose his job and this is our goal.”

Also, a GoFundMe account has been set up to assist with the needs of the family during this time. 

“On behalf of the Craig Family, they thank you all for the continued support and prayers. As you’ll can imagine, the Craig Family has endured unbearable pain within the last 72 hours. They are restless and are incurring many expenses due to the event that occurred on Wednesday, December 21st. They are continually being harassed and have not been able to comfortably stay in their own home. Please assist with any monetary donations to help ease their burdens  as well as prayers for the Craig Family, for their strength, peace and justice. All donations will be sent directly to the Craig Family. Again, thank you and Happy Holidays.  #ThouShallNotLitter #SilenceEqualsComplicity

Help spread the word!”

Here is the direct link to the GoFundMe page.


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Unheard Voices is an award-winning news magazine that started in 2004 as a local Black newsletter in the Asbury Park, Neptune, and Long Branch, NJ areas to now broaden into a recognized Black online media outlet. They are the recipient of the NAACP Unsung Hero Award and CV Magazine's Innovator Award for Best Social Justice Communications Company.

Police

Family of Black girls handcuffed by Colorado police, held at gunpoint reach $1.9 million settlement

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Black girls held gunpoint Aurora
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The family of four Black girls who were wrongfully detained and held at gunpoint by Aurora, CO police have reached a settlement with the city.

Family of Black girls held at gunpoint reach settlement

Finalized on Monday, the families will collectively receive $1.9 million.

The settlement marks the latest payout the City of Aurora has been forced to make over officers’ excessive use of force.

In 2021, the city paid a $15 million settlement to Elijah McClain’s family, a 23-year-old Black man who died in 2019 after officers put him in a chokehold and paramedics injected him with ketamine.

The incident

In August 2020, four Black girls, ages 6, 12, 14 and 17, were held face down on the ground and put in handcuffs in a nail salon parking lot, crying and screaming, as officers towered over them.

Brittney Gilliam, the mother of the 6-year-old, was driving that Sunday morning with her relatives, because they were going to get their nails done together.

Wrongfully detained

But before they made it in the salon, Gilliam was detained after officers mistakenly thought she was driving a stolen S.U.V.

Police had mistakenly believed Gilliam was driving a stolen car.

And a simple second step police failed to take, resulted in the family being wrongfully detained.

Officers didn’t type in the plate number in a second database to show them the make of the vehicle. If they had, authorities said, the officers would have realized that the plate number was registered to a motorcycle in Montana.

Black girls and mother held at gunpoint traumatized

Dozens of bystanders watched the ordeal unfold, and video footage of the incident went viral, sparking protests over racial injustice, citing excessive force on Black Americans.

After the video went viral, Aurora police had apologized for their grave mistake, but the emotional trauma had already happened.

The Aurora Police Department said its officers are trained to draw their weapons before telling passengers to exit the vehicle and ordering them to lie on the ground, The Post reported.

Officers who held Black girls at gunpoint

One of the two officers who drew their guns and handcuffed members of the family was initially suspended.

However, he and the other officer that pulled his firearm remain on the police force, the New York Times reports.

To date, no officers were fired or charged in connection with the incident.


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Police

2023 saw a record year of killings by police in U.S.

The number of people killed by police in the United States reached a new high in 2023, according to new research.

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2023 police killings increase
Photo by Pixabay

The number of people killed by police in the United States reached a new high in 2023, according to new research.

2023 police killings increased dramatically

Mapping Police Violence, a non-profit research group, dockets deaths at the hands of police officers. Last year, it recorded the highest number of killings since its national tracking began in 2013.

Statistics explained

The data reported that police officers killed 1,329 people in 2023, representing nearly a 19-percent increase over the 11-year span.

Nearly 90% of those killed were fatally shot, according to Abdul Nasser Rad, managing director of research and data at Campaign Zero, who runs Mapping Police Violence.

There were only 14 days without a police killing last year and on average, law enforcement officers killed someone every 6.6 hours, according to the report.

Meanwhile last year, the number of people killed by gunfire and officers killed in the line of duty declined, according to data from the Gun Violence Archive. There was an increase in the number of police officers shot.

The newly released data suggests a grim reality and a systemic crisis, with an average of about three people killed by officers each day, with slight increases in recent years. In 2022, 1,250 were killed by police.

The data also reported that Black people were about 2.8 times more likely to be killed by officers than their white counterparts between 2013 and 2023.

Recording police misconduct

For decades, many Americans have suffered various forms of brutality and injustice at the hands of “bad” law enforcement officers.

When a civilian puts in a complaint against the officer only a small percent of complaints result in the officer being disciplined —partly because the accusations are hidden.

Half of the battle is knowing who the “bad” law enforcement are and proper action being taken.

Missin Peace, a national police misconduct database that collects formal civilian complaints against law enforcement, helps fill that void.

In 2022, we had a conversation with the creators, who urged those who filed a complaint against an officer, to upload it on their website as well.

While there is still much work to do, it’s a start.


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Police

14-year-old boy with autism tased by police in what family says was case of mistaken identity

An Illinois family is demanding answers after their 14-year-old autistic son was tased by police in what they maintain was a case of mistaken identity.

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14-year-old autistic tased by police
Photo Source: ABC News video screenshot

An Illinois family is demanding answers after their 14-year-old autistic son was tased by police in what they maintain was a case of mistaken identity.

14-year-old autistic boy tased by police

In an interview with WLS Chicago, the family says that the teen, Avarius Thompson, suffered injuries, including a fractured hip, during an encounter with Dolton police on the morning of Nov.

Police’s incident report

According to the Dolton Police Department’s incident report, Dolton police were assisting police in the nearby neighborhood of Riverdale in the search for four Black males who had fled from a crashed, stolen vehicle, two of whom were allegedly carrying rifles and a handgun.

Dolton officers spotted two subjects, one of whom matched the description of a suspect sought in the incident, in a nearby backyard and pursued them, according to the incident report.

An officer pursuing Avarius ordered the teen to stop before tasing him, according to the incident report.

The incident was captured on the officer’s body-camera footage.

“Hands up! Hands up!” a Dolton police officer can be heard yelling in the body-camera footage as he runs toward Avarius with his Taser extended. After the teen jumps over a fence, the officer deploys the taser, the footage shows.

Avarius attempts to get up when the officer deploys his Taser again a few seconds later, the footage shows.

“Don’t move. Don’t move,” the officer says. “You move, you’re going to get some more.”

Avarius’ father, Eric Thompson, told WLS that the footage was “frightening.”

Read more on ABC News


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