In response to a short, mass-emailed video of a woman activist allegedly brushed back off a downtown street by a sheriff’s deputy’s slow-moving pickup truck recently, a Fort Worth City Councilmember offered some thoughts. But no prayers.
In his late-Tuesday-night email reply to the video sender, his fellow councilmembers, Mayor Mattie Parker, Police Chief Eddie Garcia, Sheriff Bill Waybourn, every Tarrant County commissioner, NBC-5, WFAA, CBS-11/Texas, and more, District 4’s Charlie Lauersdorf wrote:
“This is pretty embarrassing footage if a citizen clearly breaking the law is claiming something went wrong. I’m sorry she/he/they/them/it didn’t get the likes and subscribes [they] were hoping for, but maybe they should not get in the middle of a street? Surely they’ve heard “fuck around and find out”, [sic] and that obviously means getting in the way of traffic.”
Lauersdorf signed off with, “Be better humans.”
Image courtesy Anthony Mariani
The video sender, “Erin Hickey,” has not replied as of 3:30pm today/Wed.
In her initial email, “Hickey” said, “There is absolutely NO … excuse for this disgusting behavior. As a city, we seem okay to let people die unnecessarily in jail. I guess now we are ok trying it in the streets. The video shows an assault with a deadly weapon. This SHOULD result in criminal charges.”
In the video, the cameraperson does not appear to be in “the middle of a street,” as Lauersdorf writes, but close to the parallel-parked vehicles along the side of the road.
“I expect nothing,” “Erin Hickey” continues in her initial email. “And that’s disgusting. I expect this kind of absolute garbage to continue. … ‘The Fort Worth Way’ with a spit on the ground and a shit eating grin. Fuck you right back.”
This column reflects the opinions of the editorial board and not the Fort Worth Weekly. To submit a column, please email Editor Anthony Mariani at Anthony@FWWeekly.com. He will gently edit it for clarity and concision.
