The fallout from the incident involving Fort Worth, Texas, police officer Matthew Kruger and Carolyn “Carolina in Fort Worth” Rodriguez continued Tuesday as various auditors converged on Fort Worth and long time Rodriguez associate Manuel Mata spoke at the Fort Worth City Council Meeting.
Mata spoke out against Officer Kruger at the meeting, claiming that Kruger pulled a gun on him “for crossing the street” in the past and that he is known to be violent. He also said that Rodriguez skipped her turn in the public feedback session of the event because she was too scared to face the crowd based on the injuries she sustained in the incident.
Mata pointed out that the police have been dealing with first amendment auditors for years and Kruger seemed to escalate the situation rather than following training to deescalate volatile situations.
After Mata spoke, various supporters stood and cheered his comments, and the Fort Worth City Council ordered those who would not sit down be escorted out of the chamber for disruption. No new incidents of violence were reported during the actions of police in clearing the chamber.
Not one to miss an outrage, Christopher “Denver Metro Audits” Cordova joined others converging on the Fort Worth area for the protests. His Tuesday night live stream indicated that he was conducting a personal investigation of the incident.
Cordova said that his Tuesday was wasted as he was having problems with his equipment and that he went to two police departments to question officers, but the departments were closed. He felt that his first day in the city was wasted but pledged to do better in the coming days.
According to Fort Worth’s NBC DFW report, Fort Worth Police are expected to address the incident at the Fort Worth city council meeting on Friday. An internal police investigation is under way and councilman Chris Nettles appeared on the report pushing for police transparency.
Rodriguez herself appeared on the NBC DFW report again claiming “excessive force” but did not detail what exactly happened in the incident. Speculation continues that she either does not remember what happened or is unwilling to say what happened due to pending legal action.
WFAA’s online reporting gave some more details on what was going on when Rodriquez encountered police. Police were investigating a reported hit and run by a drunk driver who fled the scene. Crime scene tape had yet to be put up and Rodriguez was standing in a private parking lot where police were conducting the investigation when the incident happened.
Bodycam footage of the incident has yet to be released and again, Rodriguez has yet to detail what exactly happened to her.
A lawsuit is expected, and WFAA reported that Rodriguez just earned a $6,000 settlement from another incident involving police. Tarrant County, Texas, agreed to settle with Rodriguez over claims that an officer slapped a phone out of her hands in a 2022 incident.
We will continue to follow this story and provide updates as we get them.
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