Two very different stories are emerging from an off-duty police shooting in Fort Worth earlier this month. It happened on a stretch of I-35W from about Morningside to Bellevue Drive. The shooting left a man injured and a Fort Worth officer facing charges and on detached duty but some are demanding that officer be fired.
Two different stories are emerging from an off-duty police shooting in Fort Worth earlier this month.
The shooting happened on Sept. 3 on a stretch of Interstate 35W from about Morningside Drive to Bellvue Drive and left a man injured and a Fort Worth officer facing charges while relegated to detached duty.
Fort Worth police officer William Martin was arrested on Friday. Three days later, some community leaders are calling for more action.
“Now that they arrested him, we are demanding that this man is fired from this job,” said Donnell Ballard, founder of the nonprofit United My Justice.
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An arrest warrant released Monday said Martin, who was off-duty and in his personal car on Sept. 3, called 911 to report a collision at about 4 p.m. on southbound I-35W. Martin said the other driver was fleeing the scene.
It said when both vehicles stopped on the freeway, Martin got out and fired three shots with his handgun, striking the other driver multiple times. The driver was hospitalized and survived.
It all ended when officers stopped both vehicles on a frontage road.
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“Even though you was an off-duty officer, you had no right to start shooting,” said Ballard.
The arrest warrant said the driver of a red Ford pick-up truck told police he wasn't aware of the collision and thought he was being followed by the driver who turned out to be Martin.
But in a sworn statement provided by Martin's attorney over the weekend, Martin said the driver "looked straight at me before the collision yet continued anyway,” was "causing extreme danger to the other drivers,” and rammed Martin’s silver sedan when both vehicles stopped on the freeway, prompting Martin to shoot.
Martin was involved in the controversial arrest eight years ago of Jacqueline Craig, who called police for help and was detained instead. Martin’s attorney said three federal judges exonerated the 19-year police veteran of wrongdoing in the Craig case.
“This guy should’ve been fired with the Jackie Craig situation. This guy should be fired now,” said Gerald Banks Sr., who spoke alongside Ballard at Monday’s press conference.
In a statement, Martin's attorney said his client's arrest was a “rush to judgment” by a department that formed a conclusion "as to Officer Martin’s guilt, and evidence was either accepted or ignored to fit that conclusion."
Martin is charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.
Attorneys for the injured driver are expected to speak publicly for the first time on Tuesday.
