FORT WORTH, Texas _ Two high-ranking Fort Worth police officials have been demoted over an investigation into the leak of an officer's body-cam video and personnel file, their attorneys said Friday.
Attorney Pete Schulte, who represented Assistant Chief Abdul Pridgen, tweeted Friday afternoon that Police Chief Joel Fitzgerald "used a made-up investigation to demote his chief rival, Chief Pridgen."
"Big mistake," Schulte tweeted.
Pridgen was demoted to captain, Schulte confirmed.
Deputy Chief Vance Keyes, who was also under investigation, also was demoted to captain, his attorney George Milner said Friday.
Pridgen and Keyes have been on detached duty during the investigation, which has continued for more than two months.
The body-cam video at issue is from Officer William Martin, whose questionable behavior and arrests of Fort Worth resident Jacqueline Craig and her two daughters Dec. 21 have led to widespread criticism of him and the Police Department. Martin is white and the women arrested are black.
Lee Merritt, one of Craig's attorneys, provided the documents and body-cam video of the arrests to The Associated Press. He said at the time he received the footage from a trusted source.
In an "update" sent to Police Department personnel Feb. 27, Fitzgerald wrote that he is committed to a thorough and comprehensive investigation into the matter and that Internal Affairs and the Special Investigations units, which are conducting concurrent investigations, have his full support.
"The very nature of internal investigations prohibits premature divulgence of information that, while possibly clarifying misinformation in the rumor mill, might jeopardize the hard work that our investigators are performing," Fitzgerald wrote. "Rest assured that when the time comes, as many details concerning this matter (as legally permissible) will be made available."
Police and city leaders have previously said the release of both the video and Martin's personnel file were illegal.
"We will prosecute to the fullest extent whoever was responsible for leaking this video," Fitzgerald said during a Jan. 27 news conference alongside Mayor Betsy Price.
Pete Schulte, Pridgen's attorney, had said that several other people, "including from the Fort Worth City Attorney's Office, the Tarrant County District Attorney's Office, and other members of the Police Department had copies of this video at the time the video was allegedly released."
The attorney said it's "disturbing and unfortunate that the police department is focusing its investigation on two high-ranking African American officers."
Pridgen joined the department in December 1992 and was assistant chief over the finance and personnel bureau. He was previously one of six finalists for the Fort Worth police chief position and, later, a finalist for the Corpus Christi police chief job.
Keyes joined the police department in 2000 and was over operational command, which included the training division, professional standards, the communications division and quality assurance.
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