Lawsuit filed against woman who was bitten by ants during her arrest in 2021

SANTA FE, Texas — A federal civil lawsuit has been filed alleging Santa Fe police officers used excessive force during a 2021 arrest.

An 18-second clip of police bodycam footage from the arrest, shared by lawyers, shows a woman screaming that ants are biting her face as she lies handcuffed in a grassy field. The lawsuit alleges that 33-year-old mother Taylor Rogers' head was pushed into a fire ant hill during her arrest.

According to the lawsuit, Rogers was taking her 9-year-old son to RJ Wollam Elementary School on August 19, 2021, when she turned into a bus-only lane. Afterwards, she claimed people were “hitting on her car” and an officer even pointed a gun at her.

“The morning of August 19th. “2021 stands out in my mind as a day that highlighted an important issue: the lack of empathy and human compassion among some individuals in law enforcement,” Rogers said while reading prepared remakes at a press conference on Saturday, May 11. “I call on the Santa Fe Police Department and all law enforcement agencies to embody the principles they represent in their own homes.”

Rogers' attorney Randall Kallinen is calling for the officers involved to be punished.

“The Santa Fe Police Department did not discipline any officers,” Kallinen said. “You accepted this behavior. This means there are likely other situations in which officers use excessive force.”

But officials involved in the incident say the lawsuit's description of events is inaccurate.

KPRC 2's Rilwan Balogun spoke with Santa Fe ISD Police Chief Ruben Espinoza via Zoom. Espinoza was a sergeant in the school district and at the scene of the arrest.

According to Espinoza, Rogers appeared to be trying to get to the front of the area where parents drop off students, and she behaved erratically when he tried to warn her about it.

A short time later, Rogers was arrested by various officers and she drove off the road into the grass and tried to escape after they turned on her lights, Espinoza said.

“She turned her vehicle into a bus driveway where students are dropped off by bus,” Espinoza said. “This place [is] at the front of the school is very close to where children are dropped off. I could tell she was determined not to stop, so I was worried she would run over someone near the school. So I used my vehicle to stop their vehicle.”

After officers stopped her vehicle, Espinoza said Rogers was erratic and noncompliant when she was handcuffed. At this point he says that the events that took place in the video do not tell the whole story.

He also clarified that there was no visible anthill on the ground where Rogers was placed.

“The video provided to you by your lawyers does not show a complete and accurate description of the event,” Espinoza said. “You can clearly see in the video that there was no anthill that I could see at the time. All this time she has been non-compliant.”

He added that he told officers to put Rogers in the police vehicle seconds after hearing she had been bitten, but she fought back again. After the video edits, Espinoza said officers asked Rogers to calm down, at which point she agreed and was picked up without further incident.

“The ants' description only took seconds, and it only took that long because it wasn't obedient. She would have been lifted off the ground sooner if she had stopped struggling at that point.”

Santa Fe Police Chief Walter Barun could not be reached for comment, but Santa Fe City Manager Alun Thomas has spoken out in support of the officers involved. He added that he was satisfied with the internal investigation into the officers' conduct during the incident.

“We have a process and certain standards that we expect of our officers,” Thomas said. “If officers fail to comply with these standards, appropriate action will be taken against them.”

Thomas said city policy prevented him from commenting further on the case or lawsuit.