FORT WORTH, Texas — The Fort Worth Police Department has fired one of its officers after investigating a use of force incident where the officer reportedly injured a woman while arresting her.
The officer, Matthew Kruger, was fired following an administrative investigation into the incident, which happened in late June while he was on duty.
Sunday, June 23 at 3:26 a.m., officers responded to a hit-and-run crash around 1000 Foch St. in Fort Worth, police say.
Carolyn Rodriguez, who records interactions with police and posts them to her YouTube channel, was also at that scene, live streaming.
The body camera footage showed the officer exiting a patrol car and addressing Rodriguez, saying "Carolina we're busy." Seconds later, the officer tells her she can move across the street or he will arrest her. Rodriguez responds "What are you talking about?" and asks why.
The officer then told her she was under arrest and went to handcuff her. Rodriguez could be heard saying "no, no, no" before the officer said "stop resisting" and threw Rodriguez to the pavement.
According to Rodriguez, she was knocked unconscious at that moment. Still, the officer continued to yell "Stop resisting." The entire interaction between the first words exchanged and Rodriguez being knocked unconscious lasted 15 seconds.
Rodriguez sustained multiple injuries during the arrest and was taken to the hospital for treatment, according to a police statement.
Arrest video:
She was later released from the hospital, booked into jail, and charged with interference with public duties, resisting arrest and/or detention, evading arrest and false alarm or report.
Rodriguez was sentenced to 30 days in jail with a $750 fine after a jury found her guilty of interference with public duties, but she has appealed the verdict.
Both the major case unit and the internal affairs unit of FWPD immediately began investigating the incident, police say, and Krueger was transferred to a unit with no public interaction during the investigation.
Krueger's chain of command found through the investigation that the level of force he used wasn't justified and violated FWPD policy. Fort Worth Police Chief Neil Noakes agreed with the determination and fired Krueger.
Krueger had been with FWPD for a little less than eight years and was assigned to the patrol unit when the incident happened.
Fort Worth Councilman Chris Nettles released a letter addressing the incident soon after it happened, saying, "What I saw and heard was very alarming & inconsistent from an initial report from FWPD."
When WFAA last spoke with Rodriguez, she planned to file a civil lawsuit with Fort Worth attorney Ben Westbrook. Westbrook released the following statement following the officer's termination:
"The firing was long overdue. It certainly seems the delay was because they wanted to wait until after Mrs. Rodriguez's criminal trial was concluded. We are still planning on moving forward with a civil lawsuit."
