Someone doesn’t like the noise protesters keep making about Jacqueline Craig’s arrest

Most weekdays a small group of protesters have gathered downtown to continue calling attention to the arrest of the Jacqueline Craig family and the city’s response to racial issues they say plague Fort Worth.

On Wednesday police received a complaint and handed out four disorderly conduct noise citations after an investigation verified the complaint was valid, police said.

The protesters have been gathering at various downtown locations since the arrest of Jacqueline Craig and her two daughters, according to Michael Bell, protest organizer. Sometimes, protesters rally at different locations downtown around lunchtime, but typically they gather in front of the Omni Hotel.

These four citations were issued about 1:30 p.m. to people marching on the sidewalk in the 1300 block of Houston Street, according to the citation that Bell received.

The protesters remained near the Omni Hotel for at least 20 minutes after the citations were issued and no other noise complaints were received, according to police.

Craig became a central figure on Dec. 21, 2016, after she called 911 to report that a neighbor had assaulted her son for littering. As Fort Worth police officer William Martin responded to the scene, he asked Craig, “Why don’t you teach your son not to litter?”

The situation escalated as a crowd gathered and Craig and her two daughters were eventually arrested. The charges were later dropped, but not before a video of the arrest took off on social media.

By Dec. 20, 2017, the video had been viewed more than 5 million times on Facebook and shared more than 114,000 times, according to Facebook.

Craig has filed a damage claim with the city, which is pending. Martin was suspended for 10 days.

The city has said it would not pay any claims arising from the Craig arrest.

This story includes information from Star-Telegram archives.

This story was originally published March 22, 2019 at 10:11 AM.