White policeman suspended but not fired after video incident
DALLAS — A white Texas policeman was suspended without pay for 10 days, but will not be fired, after an incident in which he was caught on video wrestling a black woman and her daughter to the ground, Fort Worth Police Chief Joel Fitzgerald announced Monday.
Fitzgerald said the officer, identified by department officials as William Martin, violated policy, is sorry for his behaviour and is eager to resume active duty at the end of the suspension. He said he has asked Martin, who will also be required to undergo additional training, to go back into the same community when the suspension ends “to repair relationships.”
“We are not sanctioning bad behaviour … People make mistakes. We have levels of mistakes that every police officer makes,” Fitzgerald said. “Some things deserve punishment; some do not. Some deserve termination and some do not.”
The incident on Dec. 21 happened after Jacqueline Craig complained that a neighbour choked her 7-year-old son for allegedly littering in his yard. One of her daughters filmed the interactions between Craig and Martin.