Startling: Texas School Police Sued For Frightening “Sting” Operation

A woman in Santa Fe, Texas, 35 miles southeast of Houston, is suing after she says police held her face down in a fire ant mound while they handcuffed her outside her son’s school, KHOU reports.

Body camera footage from the 2021 incident released by the woman’s attorney 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!”

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.

Santa Fe ISD Police Chief Ruben Espinoza told KHOU that the Aug. 19, 2021, incident began when police tried to stop her from attempting an illegal turn into the school parking lot.

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 attack by biting the skin and then deliver painful venomous stings with their abdomen, resulting in fluid-filled welts.

Police said no fire ant mounds were visible. The woman is seeking a trial by jury and damages.