Woman screams for help as fire ants sting her face during arrest in Texas, video shows
A Texas woman is suing after she says police held her face down in a “pile of fire ants” while they handcuffed her outside her son’s school, news outlets report.
Body camera footage from the 2021 incident released by the woman’s attorney and shared by KHOU shows a Santa Fe Independent School District police officer holding the woman down while she screams, “ants are on my face, ants are getting on my face, please!”
A copy of the lawsuit was obtained by KRIV.
According to the suit filed on July 23, 2023 against the City of Santa Fe and two Santa Fe ISD officers, the woman was at her son’s school when police used “excessive force” to arrest her for a traffic violation.
McClatchy News reached out to the City of Santa Fe and the Santa Fe ISD Police Department for comment on May 13 but did not receive an immediate response.
The Aug. 19, 2021 incident began when police tried to stop her for attempting an illegal turn into the school parking lot, Santa Fe ISD Police Chief Ruben Espinoza told KHOU.
The woman “became afraid and panicked” and fled from police, according to the lawsuit.
After a police car was used to block the woman’s path, another officer “slammed (the woman) to the ground…hogtied her and buried her face in a pile of fire ants,” the suit said.
Multiple images included in the lawsuit show the woman’s face and neck covered in blistering stings. Fire ants attach by biting the skin then deliver painful venomous stings with their abdomen resulting in fluid-filled welts.
Police said no fire ant beds were visible, KHOU reported.
The woman is seeking a trial by jury and damages.
Santa Fe is a roughly 35-mile drive southeast from Houston.
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