Fort Worth police critic injured in arrest by officer who alleged she interfered with work
A 60-year-old woman narrating live video during which she criticized vehicle towing underway in a parking lot in Fort Worth was injured early Sunday when she was forcibly arrested as she began to argue with police officers on the appropriate location for her to stand.
Carolyn Rodriguez, who posts on YouTube recordings of encounters that she and others have with law enforcement officers, mused about the validity of the towing as she walked along the perimeter of the parking lot.
In the first part of her video recording, Rodriguez is on a sidewalk on Foch Street in the West 7th bar district. She walks into the lot and approaches at least three Fort Worth police officers.
When an officer instructs her to move to the other side of the street, Rodriguez declines and asks for an explanation. After the officer repeats the instruction, he tells Rodriguez that she is under arrest and that she should turn around. The image from the camera she was holding goes dark. Audio continues in the recording, and the officer is twice heard directing her to stop resisting. Another officer says that Rodriguez is bleeding, and Rodriguez can be heard breathing raggedly before the video ends.
An officer used force to take Rodriguez into custody, according to the police department. She was injured and was taken to a hospital for evaluation and treatment. Rodriguez was released and booked into jail on suspicion of interference with public duties, resisting arrest and/or detention, evading arrest, and false alarm or report.
Rodriguez suffered a disjoined shoulder and elbow, laceration above the eye, lacerations of the upper lip, head trauma, nose trauma, concussion and loss of consciousness, according to CJ Grisham, an attorney who represents her. Rodriguez also likely suffered a skull fracture, according to Grisham.
“She is currently resting and in a lot of pain and we are getting another medical consultation for her,” Grisham wrote in response to a reporter’s questions.
In a booking photo taken by the Tarrant County Sheriff’s Office, Rodriguez has a blackened eye and cuts on other parts of her face. Jail records indicate she was released Monday on a bond.
An officer body slammed Rodriguez onto concrete, according to Grisham.
Rodriguez represented no threat to the officer who used force in the arrest, other officers or members of the public, “to justify being body-slammed head first onto the concrete,” Grisham wrote.
Asked by a reporter to describe in what ways, if any, that Rodriguez attempted to avoid arrest as the arrest was occurring, Grisham wrote, “It was impossible for Ms. Rodriguez to avoid arrest because [the officer] did not give her time to respond to his assault. Ms. Rodriguez was doing nothing illegal and should not have been arrested under any circumstances, much less violently assaulted.”
Although she does not appear to know it, Rodriguez was observing the aftermath of a hit-and-run vehicle collision in the 1000 block of Foch Street. A suspected intoxicated driver had crashed into another vehicle and a structure before walking or running from the scene, police said.
While officers were conducting an investigation, Rodriguez approached about 3:30 a.m.
The Rodriguez encounter, including the use of force, is under investigation by the Fort Worth Police Department.
“We are committed to accountability and transparency in all our operations and will ensure that this investigation is thorough and impartial,” the department wrote in its account of the arrest.
The department did not release the name of the officer who used force to arrest Rodriguez.
The direct encounter begins when Rodriguez walks into the parking lot and addresses two officers walking away from her.
Rodriguez seems to recognize and address by name a third officer, who insists she walk to the other side of the street.
“No. I’m not going to. What for?” Rodriguez asks.
“You can go to the other side of the street or you’re going to get arrested. I’m not warning you again,” the officer says.
“Why? Tell me why first,” Rodriguez says.
The video images end.
Rodriguez’s video had collected more than 76,000 views and over 2,300 comments on YouTube by about 5 p.m. Tuesday. Many of the people who wrote comments expressed outrage at the arrest and use of force and defended Rodriguez’s right to record the officers, calling her a First Amendment auditor.
In the description of her YouTube channel, Rodriguez wrote that her goals are “to bring awareness concerning our out of control Criminal Justice system” and “to educate the public as to what rights they have and how to use them.”
In August 2019, in a case related to another video she made, Rodriguez pleaded guilty in state court to breach of computer security and was sentenced to one day in jail and a $2,000 fine.
In June 2023, the Tarrant County Criminal District Attorney’s Office cited its prosecutorial discretion when it filed a motion to dismiss an interference with public duties case in which Rodriguez was the defendant.
Fort Worth District Eight council member Chris Nettles on Tuesday requested that the Police Department immediately release body-worn camera recordings of Sunday’s arrest.
Nettles also called for council members to discuss the arrest with city legal staffers and police commanders at a special executive session and requested a special citizen public comment meeting. An executive session, which is closed to the public, was scheduled for Friday.
The Fort Worth City Council had been scheduled to next meet on Aug. 6.
“That’s too long and completely unacceptable for this City to wait,” Nettles wrote in a statement.
This story was originally published June 24, 2024 at 7:32 PM.
