FORT WORTH, Texas _ Fort Worth Mayor Betsy Price and Police Chief Joel Fitzgerald pledged to fully investigate a police officer's arrest of a woman and two of her daughters after she had called police to report the assault of her son.
A video of Wednesday's incident showing the officer, who is white, arresting the women, who are black, was posted on Facebook, setting off a flurry of claims of racism against the officer and spurring a protest in downtown Fort Worth.
Fitzgerald, speaking at a news conference at City Hall on Friday afternoon, said he was "disturbed" video and acknowledged the officer acted rude, but the chief said, "I can't call (the incident) racism.
"What I can say is that I noticed in the video that the officer was rude," Fitzgerald said. "And there is a difference between rude and racist."
Price said "we do have concerns about some of the actions seen on the video," explaining that it is being fully investigated by police. She described it as an "isolated incident" and thanked Fort Worth's citizens for remaining calm.
Fitzgerald said the Fort Worth community has been tremendous since Wednesday's incident, including "even the people who protested."
Fitzgerald said several of the protesters he has spoken to "have every confidence in the world that we will handle this properly."
Those attending the news conference also included U.S. Rep. Marc Veasey, Tarrant County Commissioner Roy Brooks, state Rep. Nicole Collier and Fort Worth council members Kelly Allen Gray and Gyna Bivens.
"I was very disturbed by what I saw on the video," Veasey said. "Just from what I saw on the video, it appeared to me that the police officer there escalated the situation and was kind of being rude and condescending to the taxpayer and citizen that called police to the scene.
Collier said, "I was outraged by what I saw on the video."
"Instead of actually trying to calm the situation," Collier said, "this police officer engaged in behavior that was not in line with the standard of conduct with the Fort Worth Police Department."
The arrested mother, Jacqueline Craig, had called police Wednesday afternoon to report that a man had assaulted her son for littering, according to the woman's relatives. Relatives said that a man in their southwest Fort Worth neighborhood had grabbed the boy by the neck in an attempt to get him to pick up the trash.
After a police officer arrived at the scene the situation quickly escalated, with women screaming profanities at the officer, who eventually handcuffed and arrested two women and a 15-year-old girl, believed to be Craig's daughter.
The officer has not been identified.
The video shows the officer talking to both the man who allegedly assaulted Craig's son and then Craig. Craig can be heard telling the man that he should have alerted her if he believed her son had littered and that he didn't have the right to put his hands on her son.
"Why don't you teach your son not to litter?" the officer asks Craig.
"He can't prove to me that my son littered," Craig responded. "But it doesn't matter if he did or didn't, it doesn't give him the right to put his hands on him."
"Why not?" the officer responds.
The exchange immediately grows heated with Craig telling the officer that his question made her angry and the officer replying he would take her to jail if she continued yelling at him.
Investigating the possible assault of the child should have been the officer's priority when he arrived at the scene, Fitzgerald said Friday, and that "99.9 percent of our officers" would have handled the situation differently.
Police continued to investigate the assault claim Friday, interviewing witnesses in the boy's neighborhood, Fitzgerald said.
The video of the incident, shot by Craig's cousin, Porsha Craver, had received more than 2.5 million views on Facebook.
Police spokesman Marc Povero said Friday that the Facebook video started about two minutes after the officer arrived. Two officers had been dispatched on the call, per department policy, but the one officer arrived quicker and was the only one at the scene during the incident.
The officer's body camera was active from the time he arrived, Povero said.
Fitzgerald said the body camera footage will not be released to the public because a juvenile was involved. The attorney general's office would have to rule otherwise.
"As much as the public would like to see every nook and cranny of what we have, it's sometimes impossible to do so without respecting the rights of others," Fitzgerald said.
The attorney representing the Craig family and others have asked the charges against those arrested be dropped and the officer fired.
Fort Worth police said Craig was arrested for outstanding traffic tickets in addition to resisting arrest.
On Friday, a Fort Worth detective with the Crimes Against Children unit left his business card in the door of the home where the man suspected of assaulting the boy lives.
Neighbors in the area said the detective came to their homes early Friday morning to ask questions.
