The community is calling for the firing of a Fort Worth police officer once again under investigation for his alleged use of force.
NBC 5 has learned William Martin has been placed on restricted duty after a shooting last week that occurred when he was off duty.
Martin previously came under fire over video of his 2016 arrest of Jacqueline Craig, who called 911 for help and was detained instead.
During a Tuesday night city council meeting, some Fort Worth residents aired their concerns about a longtime police officer to city leaders.
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“One request that we do have out of that coalition is for the termination of officer William Martin,” said Abiola Agoro, founder of Disturbing Inequity.
The officer involved in a shooting along Interstate 35W on Sept. 3 identified himself as William Martin on a recent 911 call, according to Fort Worth City Councilman Chris Nettles.
That day, police said a Fort Worth officer was off-duty when a driver struck his truck and kept driving. Investigators said the officer claimed the other driver wouldn’t stop after the collision and also tried to ram his vehicle. Gunshots were fired, with the other driver being shot multiple times.
The injured driver survived the shooting.
Police said the officer, now known to NBC 5 as Martin, was placed on restricted duty and stripped of police powers while a criminal and administrative investigation was launched.
“Fire Martin now,” said Gerald Banks Sr. “Charge him with reckless endangerment and/or attempted murder.”
It wasn’t Martin’s first brush with controversy over his use of force.
In 2016, a video of his arrest of Fort Worth woman Jacqueline Craig went viral. Police said during that incident, Craig called 911 after a neighbor attacked her child. After Martin arrived at the scene, the video showed him arresting Craig and her daughter, pointing a stun gun at them. Craig, who died in September 2023 at the age of 53, later won $150,000 in a lawsuit against the city that alleged Martin used excessive force.
“Inappropriate behaviors, and behaviors that, let’s be quite honest, say that he’s not in the right field,” said Agoro.
Some Fort Worth residents said together, these two incidents showed a pattern of concerning behavior from Martin. They have begun calling for his termination and more transparency from police about last week’s shooting.
“People still don’t know what happened with that shooting,” said Agoro. “It is not normal for an officer to engage in this kind of thing out of uniform, again putting a stain on this work.”
NBC 5 asked Fort Worth Chief of Police Neil Noakes for a response to calls for Martin’s termination and more information about last week’s officer-involved shooting.
The police chief said the department was still actively investigating the facts in the case and was not ready to comment further.
