A Fort Worth, Texas police officer just scored major a-hole points for nearly causing a horrific motorcycle accident.
Officer W. Figueroa is currently under investigation following a helmet camera catching him wantonly pepper-spraying a group of motorcyclists on U.S. 287, near northbound I-35W, Sunday afternoon. In the video, the officer exits his vehicle and quickly begins spraying something into oncoming traffic. The motorcyclists say it was pepper-spray and that Officer Figueroa’s intention was to cause a motorcycle accident. From the Fort Worth Star-Telegram:
“Chase Stone, president of an East Texas motorcycle ‘team’ known as the East Texas Heat, posted the video to his Facebook page, writing that he believed the officer’s intention was to cause an accident.
‘Law enforcement is here to protect and serve, not intentionally try to harm others,’ Stone wrote on his Facebook post in asking others to share the video. ‘***THIS WAS BEYOND DANGEROUS***.'”
On Monday, the story spread like wildfire online. WFAA, Dallas-Fort Worth’s ABC affiliate, obtained pictures and videos of the motorcycle group Officer Figueroa is said to have attacked. Two of the videos are said to “show bikers driving ‘foolishly’… popping wheelies and weaving in and out of traffic.” The Fort Worth Police Department noted that they had multiple calls from motorists reporting reckless motorcycle drivers on Fort Worth highways, including U.S. 287.
Fort Worth Police Department Corporal Tracey Knight stated that pepper-spraying motorists is not a department-endorsed tactic for policing traffic.
Officer Figueroa is an eight-year veteran of the Fort Worth Police Department and apparently has an unblemished record. At least until Sunday, Officer Figueroa was viewed as a model police officer with several letters of commendation. In January 2015, Officer Figueroa received formal praise for making an “impressive” 91 traffic stops, which resulted in 130 issued tickets and not a single complaint against the officer. Figueroa also received praise in 2011 for assisting in locating a stolen car and recovering stolen items.
“As a result of your outstanding effort and initiative, multiple burglary cases were solved and a stolen vehicle from Dallas was recovered. You are hereby commended for your outstanding effort, initiative and teamwork.”
However, a history of praise and a clean record doesn’t necessarily mean a police officer cannot make a lapse in judgement, which it appears Figueroa did. The video below does a phenomenal job at showing Officer Figueroa in that moment, not as an upstanding Officer Friendly who’s regularly pat on the back for good policing, but as a menacing authoritative figure abusing his position and deliberately attempting to cause a motorcycle accident. The video doesn’t show a man who swore an oath to “protect and serve” his community, but instead shows a man whose application of law falls more into the realm of “maim and subjugate.”
[H/T Daily Kos]
