FORT WORTH, Texas — A popular 'First Amendment auditor' plans to sue the Fort Worth Police officer who arrested her Sunday, the woman's attorney tells WFAA.
Carolyn Rodriguez was knocked unconscious and injured during the arrest, which she livestreamed on her YouTube page. More than 87,000 people subscribe to her "CFW Carolina in Fort Worth" account.
Protesters supporting Rodriguez, including other people who livestream frequent encounters with law enforcement, disrupted Tuesday's Fort Worth city council meeting for more than 10 minutes. Mayor Mattie Parker instructed marshals to remove some of the demonstrators, who yelled for the police officer's firing during the meeting.
"You body-slammed like a sack of potatoes a woman, either for having a camera or asking 'Why?'" Rodriguez's attorney, CJ Grisham, told WFAA. "That is inhuman behavior."
Rodriguez approached several police officers after 3 a.m. Sunday in the West 7th entertainment district. Her video makes clear she believed the officers were towing bar employees' cars from a business's parking lot.
"How do you know if they paid or not, ladies?" she asked two police officers.
Fort Worth Police say the officers Rodriguez was recording were actually investigating a hit-and-run crash involving a suspected drunk driver who ran away from the scene.
The officers ignored Rodriguez's questions and comments until she got close. There was no police tape, marking a perimeter.
The video shows, at least three times, a male officer ordered Rodriguez to go across the street. Rodriguez repeatedly asked why.
As a different police officer told Rodriguez they were conducting an investigation, the male officer instructed her to turn around and placed her under arrest. Rodriguez again asked why, and the officer told her to "stop resisting."
During the arrest, Rodriguez's phone shook and fell to the ground. The livestream went dark but continued to capture audio.
Rodriguez who was knocked unconscious, can be heard snoring. Moments later, another woman can be heard saying, "She's bleeding."
Grisham says Rodriguez sustained a dislocated shoulder and dislocated elbow. The 60-year-old needed stitches above her eye and lip, and also had a bloody nose, he said.
Rodriguez has a black eye and blood on her face in her mugshot. Police have charged her with Interference with Public Duties, Resisting Arrest and/or Detention, Evading Arrest, and False Alarm or Report.
In a statement, a Fort Worth police spokesperson said the department is investigating the incident, including the use of force.
"We are committed to accountability and transparency in all our operations and will ensure that this investigation is thorough and impartial," the spokesperson said.
The department declined further comment.
"Within a matter of tens of seconds, you have a conversation and then you have someone that's unconscious," Fort Worth city councilman Chris Nettles told WFAA Tuesday. "It's important that we see the other side of the video, so I'm not choosing a side. What I am saying is that there's enough I've seen to warrant investigation."
Nettles Tuesday asked his colleagues to delay their scheduled summer break and meet behind closed doors on the incident. He also asked for a public comment session so city leaders could hear residents' concerns.
Nettles said the Fort Worth Police Department should release its video of the encounter, though it's not clear what video might be available.
"The community is upset and the community only sees one side," Nettles said. "That's why it's important: release the footage. Let us see both sides. Let us see transparency. Let us see what truly happened that night and put them all together."
Grisham also said any body camera or pole camera video of the incident should be released.
Rodriguez considers herself a 'citizen journalist' and 'First Amendment auditor.' Generally, such auditors enter public buildings take videos of working public employees questions, and ask them questions.
Last week, Tarrant County commissioners moved to settle a lawsuit Rodriguez filed. She argued a Tarrant County sheriff's deputy working security at the Tarrant County Courthouse in 2022 assaulted her by swatting away her phone.
She secured $6,000 in the settlement.
The 60-year-old's YouTube page is filled with recordings of her own run-ins with law enforcement. She also narrates or analyzes other auditors' videos.
Rodriguez's page shows authorities have several times removed her from public buildings under threat of arrest.
Douglas Deaton, a former police officer who now serves as an expert witness on the use of force and other law enforcement activity, told WFAA there's "very little we can make out" from Rodriguez's video. He'd need to see more before making any judgment about the incident, he said.
In Plano, Deaton taught police a seminar on handling people who record or livestream on-duty officers. Such 'First Amendment auditors' started appearing at crime scenes and in public buildings soon after smartphones became popular.
"I always recommended people handle this with boldness - with bold and friendly professionalism," he said. "Never fear the camera."
Deaton added that there is no widely accepted best practice for handling 'First Amendment auditors' or 'citizen journalists.' He taught officers to proactively offer their names and badge numbers. They should answer some questions, too, he said.
"You're not speaking to that First Amendment auditor or that so-called citizen journalist," he said. "You're speaking to the viewers. You're speaking to the future audience who will see that video."
Police should give the person recording an opportunity to comply on camera, Deaton said. He added that doing so also gives the person an opportunity to be non-compliant on their own camera, which would make a "case against that instigator more powerful."