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

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.

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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

By Emily Palmer Published on May 29, 2024 02:15PM EDT
Taylor rogers police ant nest arrest
Taylor Rogers in a screenshot of body camera footage depicting her Aug. 19, 2021 arrest. . PHOTO: RUBEN ESPINOZA/SANTA FE INDEPENDENT SCHOOL DISTRICT POLICE DEPARTMENT
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.