SANTA FE, Texas – A federal civil lawsuit has been filed claiming Santa Fe police officers used excessive force during a 2021 arrest.
An 18-second clip of police bodycam footage from the arrest, shared by attorneys, shows a woman screaming that ants are biting her face as she is laying down handcuffed in a grassy area. The lawsuit claims 33-year-old mother Taylor Rogers had her head pushed into a fire ant pile while she was being arrested.
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According to the suit, Rogers was taking her 9-year-old son to RJ Wollam Elementary School on August 19, 2021, when she turned into a lane designated for busses only. After that, she claims people “banged on her car,” and an officer even pointed a gun at her.
“The morning of August 19th. 2021 stands out in my memory as a day that underscores a significant issue, the absence of empathy and human compassion among some individuals in law enforcement,” Rogers said reading off prepared remakes at a Saturday, May 11, press conference. “I urge the Santa Fe Police Department, along with all law enforcement agencies, to embody the principles, the principles they espouse within their own walls.”
Rogers’ attorney, Randall Kallinen, is calling for punishment for the officers involved.
“The Santa Fe Police Department has not disciplined any officer,” Kallinen said. “They have accepted this behavior. Which means that there are probably other situations where excessive force is used upon by officers.”
However, the officers involved in the incident say the lawsuit’s description of events is inaccurate.
KPRC 2′s Rilwan Balogun spoke with Santa Fe ISD Police Chief Ruben Espinoza via Zoom. Espinoza was a sergeant with the school district and at the scene of the arrest.
According to Espinoza, Rogers appeared to be attempting to cut to the front of the area where parents drop off their students, and she behaved erratically when he attempted to warn her against it.
A short time later, Rogers was apprehended by different officers, and she drove off the road onto grass attempting to get away after they turned on their lights, Espinoza said.
“She turned her vehicle into a bus driveway where students are dropped off by the bus,” Espinoza said. “That location [is] at the front of the school is very close to where kids are being dropped off. I could tell she was determined not to stop, so my fear was... that she was going to run over someone near the school. So, I used my vehicle to stop her vehicle from doing that.”
After officers stopped her vehicle, Espinoza said Rogers was being erratic and noncompliant when she was put into handcuffs. At this point, he says the events that took place in the video don’t tell the full story.
He also clarified that there was no visible ant pile on the area of the ground where Rogers was placed.
“The video that y’all were provided by her attorneys does not show a complete, accurate description of the event,” Espinoza said. “In the video, you can clearly see there is no pile of ants that was observable, that I could see at that time. During this whole time, she’s noncompliant.”
He added that he told officers to put Rogers in the police vehicle seconds after she was heard saying she was being bitten, but she resisted again. After the video cuts, Espinoza says officers told Rogers to calm down, at which point she agreed and was lifted without further incident.
“The description of the ants only lasted seconds, and it only lasted as long as it did because she was noncompliant. She would’ve been lifted off the ground sooner if she had quit resisting at that time.”
Santa Fe Police Chief Walter Barun could not be reached for comment, but Santa Fe City Manager Alun Thomas has spoken out in support of the officers involved. He added that he was satisfied with the internal investigation into the officers’ behavior during the incident.
“We have a process in place and certain standards we expect our officers to meet,” Thomas said. “When officers fall short of those standards, appropriate action is taken against them.”
Thomas said city policy prevented him from commenting further on the case or the lawsuit.