Fort Worth police officer fired after investigation into off-duty shooting

An officer who was at the center of a controversial 2016 arrest has been terminated from the Fort Worth Police Department following his involvement in an off-duty shooting last month, according to a police department news release.

On Friday, Officer William Martin was fired following an administrative investigation into an incident that occurred on Sept. 3, 2024.

According to police, South Division patrol officers responded to a call about a hit-and-run on IH-35, near Morningside Drive. 

Police said a man was reported driving away from the location after hitting Martin’s vehicle.

Martin told dispatchers he followed the truck and that he fired a gun when the other driver tried to ram his vehicle, a police news release said. The driver was hit multiple times and hospitalized for treatment of non-life-threatening injuries.

The Major Case Unit began an investigation into the incident, police said.

The police department said Martin, who has been with the department for 19 years, was placed on restricted duty during the internal investigation.

Martin was arrested and charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and was subsequently booked into Tarrant County Jail on Sept. 20.

Following his arrest, Martin was placed on detached duty, and the Internal Affairs Unit began an administrative investigation, police said.

According to police, Martin’s chain of command determined that the level of force used in the Sept. 3 incident was unjustified. 

Chief Noakes concurred with the chain of command’s determination and terminated Martin’s employment with the department on Oct. 18, police said.

"The Fort Worth Police Department is filled with officers who do the job right every day," the department said in a news release. "Our department will continue to hold employees accountable who do not meet the standards expected of a Fort Worth police officer, and in doing so, we will continue to be transparent and open with our community."

Martin made headlines in 2016 when he was accused of using excessive force during the arrest of Jacqueline Craig and her teenage daughters.

Craig called the police to report a neighbor had choked her son. Martin was the responding officer and argued with Craig before the arrests. Video of the arrest, showing Martin wrestling Craig and her 15-year-old daughter to the ground, went viral. Craig's 19-year-old daughter, who recorded the arrests on her cell phone, was also arrested.

The charges against Craig and her daughters were dropped and a Fort Worth jury convicted the neighbor of assault.

Martin received a 10-day suspension for violating departmental policies.

The family settled a civil rights lawsuit with the city and received $150,000. Craig died in 2023.