Police bodycam footage captured a screaming woman being attacked by fire ants while her face was held to the ground during her arrest, a lawsuit alleges.

The painful biting incident happened in 2021 when the plaintiff, Taylor Rogers, was arrested by the Santa Fe Police Department.

Per the lawsuit, Rogers was driving with her son when an officer started yelling at her to stop. Court documents said Rogers panicked because officers pounded on her vehicle and pointed their gun at her, and she went the wrong way accidentally.

That's when Santa Fe PD Sergeant Ruben Espinoza hit Rogers's car, per the lawsuit. Another officer, Officer Christian Carranza, arrived at the scene, and allegedly became aggressive with Rogers.

In a news conference Saturday, Rogers's lawyer Randall Kallinen described what his client said happened at the scene.











'Taylor Rogers was stopped by Santa Fe police for no reason, thrown on the ground right into a bed of fire ants in the middle of the day and then held there while screaming,' said Kallinen.

The bodycam footage shared with local CBS affiliate KHOU shows Rogers screaming, pleading for help as the ants crawled on her face and started biting her.

'Ants are on my face, ants are getting on my face. Please, help,' Rogers yelled at Caranza. 'How could y'all do this? Ants are on my face, please let go.'

Per the court documents, Caranza allegedly twisted Rogers's legs and hogtied her, and she couldn't swipe the ants off her face or body. She claimed the officers didn't bother to help her swipe the ants away or move her to a different location.

The aggressive ants bite humans who get to close and inject them with a venom which causes a burning sensation and which gives them their name.

Fire ant stings can even prove deadly to people with certain medical conditions. In 2023, Georgia mom Cathy Weed, 43, was killed by an allergic reaction after stepping on a fire ant hill at her home.  

'Is it torture? Yeah that's a strong word but I call it torture,' Kallinen said. 'When the police hold you down in a fire ant bed and you're saying 'fire ants' and screaming, and they keep you there, what is that?'

To make matters worse, Rogers said the ordeal happened in front of her 9-year-old son, who was sitting in the backseat of their car.

The police have a different story and defended their actions.








In a news conference Saturday, Rogers's lawyer Randall Kallinen said what happened to his client at the scene was a form of 'torture'




Rogers is now suing three years later, asking for the two cops to be held accountable, and for the Santa Fe Police Department to go through proper de-escalation training



Continued

Interesting.

Should have just taken some Benadryl.  Pussy ass cry baby.

Damn..."misleading". That's gonna be a new angle that the bootlickers here are going to use for videos posted.

Wtf

Santa Fe is pretty notoriously corrupt.  Nice little small town with lots of good old boys taking care of each other.

This is the only thing I can find as far as body cam footage. It's a 5-10 second video played on loop while the soup sandwich of a lawyer talks during a press conference. He even mentioned she couldn't have harmed anyone while traveling the wrong way on the road at school zone. Totally harmless.

https://youtu.be/RFEBlF61V4c?si=qPsLMu-d8y87lvjB

Due to the lack of video showing the lead up the after and the Issac Hayes wanna be hovering in the press conference I'm guessing pd just happened to tackle her where ants happened to be and they are looking for a payday.

Fake Issac Hayes can't pay off his 2003 Buick and buy hats with African colors with food stamps you cracker ass ho. Best get to making dat money.

I like the follower of the Nation Of Islam and their great ideology.

Never seen fire ants leave those blisters before.

I would have sued them before my ass was out on bail. You can look at someone and see they are covered in fire ants.

I get them about half the time. Of course, the bites I got on Thursday didn't blister otherwise I'd post pictures. Probably some correlation between how long they inject and blistering.

I've had them that bad.  One night, I was lying near a lake and I accidentally stuck my elbow in a fire ant mound. They got me from mid-bicep to wrist.  It wasn't fun.  I can't imagine having them all over me head and shoulders like that.

No group ever recorded a song called "Fuck the Fire Dept."

Couple bites, whatever.  Being left there long enough for that to happen, nope.

100% on the site on the girl.  

They should do away with traffic police.

Is there video of the incident?

NM took qualified immunity away in state court.  She should destroy them financially.

I hope she wins, what was the point of holding her face down as the ants had their way with her.

The ones in Alabama leave those blisters every time.

I was playing a rugby match in Florida.

There was a scrum and it collapsed.  One of the opposition's props was on the ground, on his back and not moving much.

I was the captain so I came over to the ref and player.  The player on the ground was moaning and saying he couldn't feel his arms and legs, but they were stinging like pins and needles.

The ref freaked out and said "don't move" which was a good idea at the moment.

Then, I noticed that there were fire ants all over his arms and legs.  I told him that he had fire ants all over him.

Well, I've never seen a prop (think short stocky guy) get up and move as fast as he did.  Once he was up, sure enough, he had collapsed on top of a fire ant mound.

He was cured alright!

Well, that's one way of looking at it.

If they’re the same type of fire ants that are around here, she wouldn’t have to be in the nest very long.  If she was cuffed, she couldn’t get them off of her and if the cops didn’t do it pretty quickly she could easily have been bitten like the pictures show.  They might not hurt as bad as yellow jackets, but no one is going to sit there on purpose and get that many fire ant bites if they can help it.

This Santa Fe is a town between Houston and Galveston. Not quite a suburb of Houston but will be in another decade.

Santa Fe, Texas

Well no. But there are "groups" that can't seem to tell the difference between cops and firefighters. That's why we get body armor and bullet holes in the amberlamps.

What’s up with “Malcolm X” (on the right) joining in on the news conference? Force of habit?

Didn’t they make arfcom earlier this year for some shenanigans?

She was in a cell fkr 2 days before she received any medical attention


300+ bites when they stopped counting them


Her 9 year old was in her car when it was stopped and  another officer named in the lawsuit totalled it


The black guy is a retired Houston police Sargent with 28 years as a officer and civil rights advocate who siad that dept needs to have the DOJ go in and investigate

Too bad, the one time being in NM would have been better.

A handful of seconds in contact with a nest is all that would take.

Would like to see the full body cam of the incident and not just the small clips of it. You can clearly tell she is getting attacked by ants by her demeanor and she even yells it out as an officer just chills over her holding her down.

Seems short sighted not naming the property owner in the suit.

Lol. Ants.
What this country has become

I have.  On me.

Body cam video, but it is "misleading" according to the police department.  Who ya gonna believe?  The police or your lying eyes?

Fire ants are very common and aggressive around here. The blisters are slow to heal too. Don't go barefoot is good advice.

You get cuffed and taken to ground for a traffic violation???

Was she charged with anything? If that's the whole story, wtf

They could just release it themselves. Seems kinda suspicious they don’t if they say whats out is misleading.

I get them every time Ive been bitten, it’s how I kniw it was a fire ant…and after they burst they take forever to heal and itch for days.  I could see someone bitten as much as she was getting infections or going septic without decent care.

Most likely city easement so yeah they might sue them next…

Not sure what kind of ants you’re familiar with, but this type has killed people in the past.  That many bites wouldn’t be an enjoyable experience for anyone.  Those blistered areas can take a long time to heal.

So, uh, pragmatically, no video?

There’s probably plenty of methy shitheads there too then.  I find they go hand in hand.

I take it you've never been around fire ants.

You must have pussy fire ants in VAT.  The ones in South GA, AL and FL leave huge ass blisters. Take Benadryl, pop the blisters to get the puss out and dab them with gum spirits of pine turpentine.  Several times a day for 4 to 6 days.

Dang, 3 or 4 bites swell me up pretty good, that many would be a hospital trip for sure, on me.

When I mow my lawn I occasionally get into a fire ant hill. They leave blisters like that on my legs, take months to fully heal, and they also scar. It sucks.

I suppose not.
But Yellow jackets put me in a coma for 3 days.

Damn WTF?! That is not nice! Nobody deserved that!

Bite for bite, they aren't on the immediate level of pain of yellow jackets or hornets, but the bites are decently painful, and the after effects are like dealing with poison ivy and maybe chicken pox rolled into one.  And, that's for someone without any known allergies.   These things are awful.  The are on you faster than you can figure it out.