Police in Fort Worth, Texas, detained and released three men armed with assault rifles Saturday outside the home of the woman who made news when a video showing a police officer antagonizing and then arresting her and her two daughters went viral.
The Fort Worth Star-Telegram reports that police were dispatched to the location to investigate a disturbance complaint, and when they arrived, they encountered the armed men standing outside the home of Jacqueline Craig.
“While there, they did come in contact with three men armed with AK-47s,” police spokeswoman Tamara Valle said. “They were briefly detained and released after the officers’ investigation of the disturbance.”
The men were reportedly accompanied by a group of about 20 people, including children and teens who said they were there to defend Craig.
A police statement to NBC referred to the men as protesters, but their exact motivations were not known. Additionally, none of the men threatened or pointed their guns at anyone.
Craig was the subject of a now infamous viral Facebook video taken a month ago by one of her daughters after they called police to report that a neighbor had grabbed Craig’s son by the neck and choked him.
Fort Worth Police Officer William Martin responded to the call, and rather than investigate the reported assault against Craig’s son, he instead questioned and antagonized Craig, eventually pointing his Taser at her, wrestling her to the ground and arresting her.
The video prompted public outrage, and Martin was eventually suspended for 10 days by the Fort Worth Police Department for “multiple errors in judgment.”
Saturday’s incident was also captured in a Facebook Live video.
Read more at the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.