A Texas mom, Taylor Rogers, has filed a lawsuit claiming that police officers with the Santa Fe ISD Police Department handcuffed her and held her down on a pile of fire ants, causing the pests to bite her all over her face. Rogers alleges that the officers twisted her leg, hog-tied her, and buried her face in a colony of fire ants during an arrest in 2021 for a traffic violation. Civil rights attorney Randall Kallinen spoke out, stating that Rogers was stopped for no reason, thrown into the ants, and held there while screaming.
Dramatic police bodycam footage captured the arrest, showing an officer holding Rogers down on the grass after she allegedly fled from police who were trying to stop her for an illegal turn in a school parking lot. Rogers can be heard expressing pain and distress as the ants bit her face, pleading with the officers to let go and help her. She claims that she was unable to swat the insects away due to being handcuffed and that the police did not assist in removing the ants.
After the arrest, images showed numerous fire ant bite marks on Rogers’ face, neck, chest, and shoulders, which her attorney described as a form of “torture.” Rogers stated that her 9-year-old son witnessed the incident from the backseat of her car. Santa Fe ISD Police Chief Ruben Espinoza, one of the officers named in the lawsuit, disputed Rogers’ claims, stating that there were no signs of fire ants present at the scene. He also mentioned that the bodycam footage shared by Rogers’ attorney was allegedly misleading and omitted the part where officers helped lift her off the ground after she agreed to calm down.
Despite pleading guilty to charges related to fleeing from police, Rogers maintains that she drove away from Espinoza after he banged on her car and pointed a gun at her, causing her to panic. Espinoza described Rogers as irate and accused her of knowingly ignoring his orders and fleeing. The Santa Fe Police Department did not immediately respond to requests for additional comment on the situation. It remains to be seen how the lawsuit will progress and what further developments may arise from Rogers’ claims of mistreatment and negligence during her arrest.
