A mom is in the process of suing Texas police after she was allegedly held face-down in a fire ant nest while she was being arrested.
Taylor Rogers has been left with multiple bite marks covering her face and neck after she was "tortured" by Santa Fe Police Department officers while she was being arrested for allegedly taking a wrong turn in a school parking lot.
Video footage taken from an official's bodycam was shared with news channel KHOU 11, and showed Rogers screaming: “Ants are on my face, ants are getting on my face, please!
"How can y’all do this? Ants are on my face! Please let go!"
According to an amended complaint filed in Houston’s Southern District of Texas District Court, law enforcement “flung and slammed” her “to the ground,” “hog tied” her and “buried [her] face in a pile of fire ants” for three minutes.
As a result of the arrest, which was done in front of the mom's nine-year-old son who was sitting in the car, Rogers was plagued with bites as well as rashes all over her neck and face, as shown during a press conference on Saturday.
Rogers believes her 1st, 4th and 14th Amendment rights were violated and she's now suing the department, having announced a civil lawsuit against the city with the help of her civil rights attorney Randall Kallinen.
The 28-page complaint accuses Sgt. Ruben Espinoza and Officer Christian Carranza of torturing her.
"Taylor Rogers was stopped by Santa Fe police for no reason, thrown on the ground right into a bed of fire ants in the middle of the day, and then held there while screaming," Kallinen said during the briefing.
“Is it torture? Yeah that’s a strong word but I call it torture,” the attorney continued. "When the police hold you down in a fire ant bed and you’re saying fire ants and screaming, and they keep you there, what is that?" the attorney added.
Speaking to People, Kallinen said the incident was "one of the worst cases of police brutality" he has ever encountered.
Santa Fe Independent School District Police have rejected the accusations held against them revealing their side of the story to KHOU 11.
"When she [the officer] gave the description of the vehicle, I immediately knew who it was. So, I approached the intersection and observed Miss Rogers fleeing," Chief Ruben Espinoza told the outlet.
"She was also passing a vehicle in the grassy area on the right side when I tried to get in front of her to stop. She didn’t put her vehicle in reverse and fled from me.”
Rogers admitted that she did not stop because she was afraid because a police officer was pounding on her door and pointing a gun at her.
The department also denied there were any fire ants nearby and confirmed that they treated Rogers with respect, as per the Independent.
The outlet also reported that Rogers later pleaded guilty to the charges of fleeing police filed against her and the officers were found to have acted appropriately.
Despite this though, the mom emphasized that the police need to be "disciplined."
"While I forgive those officers for their actions that day, I refuse to remain silent in the face of a violation of my son’s and my civil rights," she said in her statement.
A GoFundMe has been set up by Rogers' lawyer to help his client cover legal costs. $996 of the $10,000 target has been raised at the time of writing.