A Fort Worth police officer used his pepper spray on random motorcyclists driving full speed down a crowded highway, and was caught on camera doing it, leading to his suspension from patrol duties.
The officer was standing next to his patrol car after pulling over a red Dodge Ram pickup truck which was the “chaser” vehicle, driving nearby in support of the motorcyclists.
When the Fort Worth cop got out of the car, motorcyclist Jack Mckinney‘s helmet GoPro camera caught what happened next.
A little video editing from the “East Texas Heat Productions” finished the job and shows clearly as the Texas cop pepper sprays passing motorists for absolutely no reason.
But don’t worry, the officer captured the whole thing on video too.
Fort Worth Police issued this press release on Facebook:
The officer documented the entire incident in a report as well as on two cameras – his body camera and the dash cam of the patrol car.
[Figueroa] has been placed in an administrative capacity pending the investigation. The Fort Worth Police Department takes any complaint of officer misconduct very seriously and this incident will be investigated thoroughly.
In an unusual move, the north Texas police department initiated an investigation without a “formal” complaint, after the video of six year veteran Officer W. Figueroa surfaced and went viral.
It’s important that police accountability advocates applaud the Fort Worth Police Department‘s decision to take action against an officer who is clearly endangering the public as loudly as they protest the ill handling of police discipline against officers who transgress and are caught, but then coddled by departments without the moral fiber to speak out for citizens rights and against bad behavior behind the badge.
“I think that officer was completely out of line,” one of the bikers who contacted police said, but wished to otherwise remain anonymous when interviewed the local CBS news outlet, “I don’t know if he was a rookie, I don’t know if he was having a bad day.”
“But I know that if I were to go on the highway and spray mace onto the left lane next to me, I’d probably be in jail with a high misdemeanor or felony.”
Sources confirm that Officer W. Figueroa earns $168,000 annually as a Fort Worth cop.
