Attorneys for a man shot earlier this month by an off-duty Fort Worth police officer gave a differing account of circumstances around a pursuit on a busy highway that led to the shooting.
Attorney Doug Hafer spoke to reporters Tuesday on behalf of his client, Samuel Christopher, the driver wounded during the Sept. 3 shooting on Interstate 35W. The news conference was held four days after Fort Worth police arrested Officer William Martin, who is now facing an aggravated assault charge.
During the news conference, Hafer denounced Martin’s actions. He said his client did not know Martin was an officer.
Attorneys for Christopher and Martin, who remains on the force, have offered dueling accounts of the events leading up to the Sept. 3 shooting.
“Despite statements to the contrary, Samuel Christopher is the only victim in this near-fatal shooting,” Hafer said during the brief news conference.
Hafer did not take questions from the media. Christopher was not present. The law firm’s media representative did not immediately respond to a list of questions seeking additional information.
After the officer’s arrest last week, Martin’s attorney, Mike Schneider, offered a conflicting version of events, casting Christopher as the aggressor, characterizing the arrest as politically motivated and saying Martin’s actions were “wholly in line with the duties of a peace officer under Texas law.”
After investigating the shooting, Fort Worth police booked Martin in Tarrant County custody Friday — more than two weeks later.
The shooting came to light during a Sept. 10 meeting of the Fort Worth City Council when two community activists — Gerald Banks Sr. and Abiola Agoro — called for Martin’s firing.
After his arrest, Fort Worth police released a statement acknowledging Martin was involved in a “shooting resulting from an altercation with another driver on IH35.”
Fort Worth police did not immediately respond to a list of questions seeking additional information Tuesday.
Schneider provided The News with a sworn affidavit signed by Martin that describes the events leading up to the shooting, including a collision between their vehicles, that led Martin to pursue Christopher.
Hafer said Christopher was unaware Martin was an officer because Martin was driving his personal vehicle, did not present a badge during the encounter and did not identify himself as a police officer.
Martin acknowledged in the affidavit that he did not identify himself. He said he was driving his personal vehicle, but he did not say whether he was wearing his police uniform.
“My desire to identify myself was made moot at this point because of how quickly everything happened,” Martin said in the affidavit.
In a statement Tuesday, Schneider said Martin stands by the series of events described in the affidavit.
After the shooting, Christopher, who was shot multiple times but survived, told officers he wasn’t aware of a collision and thought he was being followed — that driver was Martin, according to a probable cause affidavit obtained by KXAS-TV (NBC5).
Hafer said Christopher was cooperating with Fort Worth police.
Martin was placed on “restricted duty” after the shooting and then, after his arrest Friday, was placed on “detached duty” pending an internal affairs investigation, police said.
Martin has worked at the Fort Worth Police Department for 19 years.
Martin was at the center of an arrest in 2016 that garnered national attention.
In a video capturing the arrest, Martin can be seen wrestling Jacqueline Craig and her two daughters to the ground and arresting them. Craig and her daughters were initially charged with interference with public duty, resisting arrest and failure to provide identification, but the charges were later dropped.
Craig, who is Black, later accused Martin, who is white, of displaying racist behavior and using excessive force. Her family sued Fort Worth, Martin and her neighbor. Martin was removed from the lawsuit after it was ruled he had qualified immunity, and the Craig family later received $150,000 in a settlement with the city, according to NBC5.
