Bitten by Fire Ants During Arrest, Texas Woman Claims Police Brutality. But What Does Body Camera Footage Reveal?

Taylor Rogers is suing police in Santa Fe, Texas. Police provided PEOPLE with the body camera footage they say exonerates them

The first time the Santa Fe, Texas, police officer stopped Taylor Rogers that summer morning, he informed her she was making an illegal left turn in an elementary school zone.

That was around 8:20 a.m. Aug. 19, 2021, according to their recorded interaction on body camera footage obtained by PEOPLE.

Seven minutes later, Rogers is face-down on the grass, hands cuffed behind her back, yelling: “Ants are on my face!” An amended complaint filed in Houston’s Southern District of Texas District Court claims that officers “flung and slammed” her “to the ground,” “hog tied” her and “buried [her] face in a pile of fire ants” for three minutes.

“This is one of the worst cases of police brutality I have handled,” her civil rights lawyer, Randall Kallinen, said in a statement to PEOPLE.

In the 28-page complaint, Rogers claims she was “tortured” by Sgt. Ruben Espinoza and Officer Christian Carranza and that her 1st, 4th and 14th Amendment rights were violated, entitling her to damages.

PEOPLE has obtained three separate body camera videos detailing key points in a case that has garnered national headlines amidst other serious allegations of unnecessary force by police officers across the country.

At 8:23 a.m., a female officer, referred to as Officer Moore in the amended complaint, notices Rogers again driving the wrong way.

“Hey, hey, hey,” Moore yells, waving her arms and pursuing the vehicle on foot.

She taps Rogers’ car as the vehicle zooms past.

“You did not touch my car!” Rogers yells.

In an interview with PEOPLE, Espinoza says he halted the pursuit by hitting Rogers' car with his.

Subsequently, according to the footage, an officer instructs Rogers to get on the ground: a grassy area off the road.

“I'm not even doing anything!” Rogers says.

Rogers yells through much of the three-minute and 34-second body camera footage documenting her arrest.

She claims she has PTSD because she has previously been arrested “for no reason.” (Her lawyer told PEOPLE in an email that she had previously settled a lawsuit against other Santa Fe officers.)

“Well, there was a reason here,” Moore says, cuffing Rogers.

Rogers' young son can be heard crying from the backseat.

“It’s okay buddy, it’s okay,” Espinoza tells the boy.

An officer holds Rogers’ handcuffed arms behind her back.

“What did I do?” Rogers screams. “Please tell me what I did!”

“You fled from a police officer,” Espinoza replies.

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A short time later, Rogers asks, “Why is my face in the ground?" though she lifts her face off the ground to ask the question. “Can you tell me that, please? Can you tell me? Can you answer the question?”

The officer’s hands remain securely on Rogers' cuffed arms. Rogers appears to momentarily lay her head on the ground, repeating the question.

Several officers surround her as she maneuvers her body on the grass. At one point, a male officer raises her leg into the air.

Then, two minutes and 52 seconds into Espinoza’s arrest footage, Rogers makes the first audible reference to fire ants.

“Ants are on my face. Ants are getting in my face! Please, help!” she yells, adding: “Ants are on my face. Please let go.”

About 18 seconds later, officers can be seen trying to lift her off the ground as she flails.

“We’re trying to get you up. Calm down,” an officer says. The officers try again, successfully lifting her up at the three-minute and 23-second mark.

Her lawyer has set up a GoFundMe for legal expenses, claiming that “no person should have to go through what happened to Taylor.”

In March 2024, U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Vincent Brown dismissed several claims against the City of Santa Fe and Carranza but did not dismiss the claim of excessive force. In the memorandum opinion and order, Brown denied Espinoza’s motion to dismiss the case.

Carranza’s lawyers declined to comment to PEOPLE but said in a court filing earlier this year that he had used “reasonable force” against Rogers.

Calling the interaction an “unfortunate incident,” Espinoza tells PEOPLE in an interview that his officers did not see the fire ants and that they followed protocol in keeping Rogers on the ground until she cooperated.

Espinoza – who has since been named Chief of Police of the Santa Fe Independent School District Police Department – says his department has received death threats connected to her allegations.

“We try to be transparent,” he said of volunteering the body camera footage to PEOPLE. “I have nothing to hide.”

A jury trial is expected to be set next year.

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