Fort Worth police – Attorney Legal Counsel

Fort Worth police officer’s attorneys claim 2016 incident is to blame for recent arrest

attorneylegalcounsel99 — Sun, 22 Sep 2024 18:09:01 +0000

PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Fort Worth Police Officer William Martin arrested

Fort Worth police say Martin did a “jail walkthrough” on Friday, meaning he walked in with his attorney to turn himself in, was fingerprinted, posted bond and walked out. He did not spend any time detained.

FORT WORTH, Texas – The Fort Worth police officer who was arrested after an off-duty shooting says he was doing his duty when he chased a driver who hit his car.

Fort Worth police arrested Officer William Martin on Friday and charged him with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.

Martin was leaving work in his Honda Accord on September 3, when he says he was hit by a Ford F-150.

He then chased the driver as he talked with 911.

In a sworn affidavit provided to FOX 4 by his legal team, Martin claims he eventually boxed the driver in and the truck rammed his car.

He says he got out of his vehicle, pointed his gun at the truck and demanded that the driver get out.

When he heard the truck’s engine rev and move forward, he opened fire.

“I believe then, as I believe now, that the driver would have run over me if I had not taken defensive action,” Martin wrote in his affidavit.

While Martin says he intended to identify himself as an officer, it’s not clear in the statement if he ever did.

The driver of the truck, later identified as Samuel Christopher, was struck multiple times but survived.

Christopher’s attorneys tell FOX 4 he was “unarmed” and that he’s cooperating with law enforcement related to the investigation.

Martin’s attorneys also say that their client is cooperating with the police investigation, but that his past is getting in the way of the investigation.

“Once it was leaked (by who?) to the media that the events of September 3, 2024 involved the same officer as was involved in the ‘Jackie Craig’ case, it is our belief that, no matter the objective facts of September 3, 2024, the arrest of Officer Martin was a foregone conclusion,” wrote P. Michael Schneider, Martin’s attorney.

Martin was released on bond after his arrest on Friday.

He is currently on “detached duty” from the Fort Worth Police Department pending an Internal Affairs investigation into the incident.

Jacqueline Craig Arrest

Martin, who has worked for the Fort Worth Police Department for 19 years, received a 10-day suspension for a high-profile arrest in 2016.

Jacqueline Craig and her daughter complained that Martin used excessive force on them after Craig called police to complain about her neighbor.

Video showed Martin wrestling Craig and one of her daughters to the ground. The incident was released online and caught attention nationwide.

The Craig family sued Martin saying the force used in the arrest was unconstitutionally excessive, but a panel of judges on Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals sided with Martin, overruling a district court.

Craig’s family later settled a lawsuit with the city for $150,000.

Martin appealed his suspension in the case, but the appeal was denied.

The Source

Information in this article comes from a press release and sworn affidavit from William Martin and his attorneys, Fort Worth Police, court records and past FOX 4 media coverage.

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Amber Carr, Sister of Atatiana Jefferson, Dies ‘Surrounded by Family,’ Attorney Says – NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth

attorneylegalcounsel99 — Tue, 31 Jan 2023 06:26:26 +0000

Amber Carr, the sister of Atatiana Jefferson, the Fort Worth woman shot and killed in her home in 2019 by a police officer, has died after a longtime battle with congestive heart failure.

Earlier this month community leaders and the family’s attorney, Lee Merritt, shared that Carr, 33, was in failing health and was expected to have only days to live. On Monday, Merritt and Fort Worth City Councilman Chris Nettles, both posted messages online confirming Carr’s death.

“Amber Carr passed away peacefully this morning. She was surrounded by family and loved ones. We are asking for your continued prayers and support as her two young sons deal with her transition,” Merritt posted.

“We are heartbroken to hear about the passing of Amber Carr, sister to Ashley Carr & Atatiana Carr-Jefferson and mother to Zion & Zayden Carr. Anyone who had the pleasure of meeting Amber knew her smile lit up every room and her love of family transcended time. Our hearts and prayers are with the entire Carr family right now as they cope with another devastating loss. We are grateful for the time we shared with Amber on this earth and are comforted knowing she has reunited with her mother and sister,” Nettles posted.

Carr’s son, Zion, was the only one home when his “Aunt Tay” was shot and killed in the family’s home on E. Allen Avenue on Oct. 12, 2019.

Dean, a white police officer, fatally shot the 28-year-old Black woman while investigating an open structure call. Dean entered the backyard and said when he looked through a window he saw a silhouette of a person and the barrel of a gun. Dean fired once, fatally wounding the woman on the other side of the glass.

In a 2019 interview with NBC 5, Amber Carr said her sister Atatiana loved spending time with her nephews and that she was so close to them people would sometimes mistake them for her children.

She told NBC 5 in 2019 that the last time she spoke to her sister was a week before she was killed when she came to visit her in the hospital.

“She came to the hospital in Plano where I was recovering from major heart surgery. She came and brought me food, she brought me a new cellphone,” Carr said.

Carr attended part of her sister’s murder trial last month before being readmitted to the hospital before Dean was found guilty and sentenced.

Funeral arrangements for Carr have not yet been shared publicly.

Since Jefferson’s death, the family has endured one tragedy after another. Atatiana’s father, Marquis Jefferson, died two weeks after her funeral and her mother, Yolanda Carr, who also had congestive heart failure, died a few weeks later in January 2020.

Dean was convicted in Jefferson’s death on Dec. 15, 2022, when a Tarrant County jury rejected a murder charge in favor of a lesser charge of manslaughter. Five days later the same jury sentenced him to 11 years, 10 months and 12 days in state prison. Earlier this month, Dean’s attorneys filed a motion requesting a new trial and for him to be released from state jail on bond.

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