Driver shot by off-duty Fort Worth police officer says he wasn’t aware of initial accident
The driver who was shot multiple times by an off-duty Fort Worth police officer said he was moving away from the officer when he was shot and he wasn’t even aware of the initial accident that led to the shooting, according to his attorneys and court records.
Officer William Martin, a 19-year veteran with the department, was arrested Friday on a charge of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. According to Martin’s signed statement, a red pickup truck collided with his personal vehicle the afternoon of Sept. 3. The driver of the truck looked directly at Martin before the collision, Martin said, and then didn’t stop afterward.
The officer said he called 911 to report the accident and then followed the pickup for several miles on southbound Interstate 35W. When Martin’s vehicle and the pickup finally came to a stop, the pickup rammed Martin’s Honda, according to the officer’s statement. Martin said he fired his gun out of concern for his safety after he saw the pickup start to move forward.
The pickup’s driver, Samuel Christopher, has a different version of the events that occurred before his shooting, according to Martin’s arrest warrant affidavit.
Christopher told police he wasn’t aware he had collided with Martin’s vehicle. He had just entered the freeway, according to the affidavit, and made a left lane change in front of Martin’s Honda. He could tell Martin was following him because the officer kept changing lanes to stay behind his truck. But Christopher said he didn’t realize Martin was a police officer and he tried to get away.
According to the affidavit, Martin called 911 at 4:06 p.m. and reported a collision and told the operator that the other driver was fleeing the scene. Martin followed Christopher, and both vehicles stopped at 4:11 p.m. in the far left lane just north of Felix Street. Martin had pulled in front of Christopher’s pickup and stopped so suddenly that Christopher collided with the rear of his vehicle, the affidavit stated.
One of Christopher’s attorneys, Doug Hafer, said at a news conference Tuesday morning that Martin stopped his vehicle directly in front of Christopher during rush-hour traffic and backed up into Christopher’s pickup.
“Officer Martin got out of his vehicle, and then immediately advanced towards the driver’s side of Mr. Christopher’s vehicle while pointing a weapon at him,” Hafer said.
Martin didn’t display a badge or identify himself, according to Hafer, so there was no way for Christopher to know he was a police officer. Christopher stayed in his vehicle, and Martin continued to move toward him from the left side, the attorney said.
“Fearing for his life, Mr. Christopher turned his vehicle to the right to drive away from Officer Martin,” Hafer said. “It was then that Officer Martin opened fire as Mr. Christopher was moving away from and never towards Officer Martin.”
According to Hafer, the shooting had near-fatal results, and one of the bullets narrowly missed Christopher’s spine.
Christopher managed to drive away from the scene, and Martin followed him a few more miles until on-duty Fort Worth police officers arrived, according to the warrant.
Police interviewed 14 witnesses. None of them saw the initial collision that led to the chase and the shooting, according to the the affidavit written by investigators. The witnesses said they did see Martin chase Christopher down I-35W and assumed it was a road rage incident. They also saw Martin pull in front of Christopher and stop suddenly, causing a collision. They saw Martin fire his weapon at Christopher.
The witnesses didn’t hear Martin identify himself as a police officer, according to the warrant, and they told police that Martin was in no danger of being struck by Christopher’s vehicle. According to the affidavit, Martin works for the department in a plainclothes capacity, so he wasn’t in uniform. His badge was in his wallet.
“My desire to identify myself was made moot at this point because of how quickly everything happened,” Martin said in his signed statement. “I believe then, as I believe now, that the driver would have run over me had I not taken defensive action.”
Christopher was taken to a local hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. His attorneys said he was unarmed at the time of the shooting and was driving home to be with his family after work. Police haven’t announced any charges against him.
Christopher has declined to comment on the incident thus far. Hafer said his attorneys are speaking for him “so he can continue to recover in privacy.”
Martin’s attorney, P. Micheal Schneider, said in a statement Friday that “Officer Martin is innocent of the charges articulated in today’s arrest warrant. His actions were wholly in line with the duties of a peace officer under Texas law.”
“This case is a prime example of what happens when a police department places political expediency ahead of a thorough and complete investigation of the facts,” Schneider wrote. “Thankfully the case will now be in the hands of the Tarrant County District Attorney’s Office who we trust will handle this case appropriately and professionally.”
In the wake of the shooting, Fort Worth residents and community activists have demanded that Martin be held accountable. They argued Martin’s actions during the Sept. 3 altercation were part of a pattern of aggressive behavior and said he should be removed from the police department before any more residents get hurt.
On Monday, a group from United My Justice gathered in front of City Hall to demand that Martin be fired.
“No civilian would be treated this leniently,” the activist organization said in a news release.
In 2016 Martin was involved in the arrest of Jacqueline Craig, which became a national story. Video of the arrest that went viral showed Martin wrestle Craig to the ground after she called police during a dispute with a neighbor and Craig and the officer argued.
Martin was suspended for 10 days without pay following the incident. In 2022, the city agreed to pay Craig $150,000 to settle a lawsuit.
The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals reviewed the evidence in the Jacqueline Craig case in 2022 and determined that “Martin’s conduct in this case was not objectively unreasonable” and he was entitled to qualified immunity, according to court documents.
“Once it was leaked (by who?) to the media that the events of September 3, 2024 involved the same officer as was involved in the ‘Jackie Craig’ case it is our belief that no matter the objective facts of September 3, 2024 the arrest of Officer Martin was a foregone conclusion,” Schneider said in a news release Saturday.
The Fort Worth Police Department didn’t use Martin’s name in its statement regarding the initial hit-and-run shooting investigation but identified him in a news release Friday announcing his arrest.
According to the department’s release, investigators determined there was probable cause for Martin to be charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and they obtained the warrant for his arrest.
Martin voluntarily turned himself at the Tarrant County Jail on Friday, according to Schneider, and was released on bond.
Following the arrest, Martin, 44, has been placed on detached duty pending the completion and review of an Internal Affairs investigation, police said in the release. He was assigned to the Support Bureau at the time of the shooting.
This story was originally published September 24, 2024 at 10:02 AM.
