A North Texas woman said she suffered physical injuries following an encounter with a Hurst police officer in January and subsequent arrest. Portions of the encounter were captured on a now viral video.

It’s a video that’s been viewed tens of thousands of times across several social media platforms.

Taneisha Thompson was traveling with her 15-year-old son at the time. She is seen being pulled from her vehicle onto the ground by officers. Her son is heard begging officers to stop.

“It’s traumatizing. I was very scared,” Thompson said.

Thompson said she’d taken her son for a doctor’s appointment and a haircut that day. While passing through Hurst, she says she missed an exit. That’s when she said an officer pulled her over and said she’d been speeding in a school zone.

Thompson said the officer went back and forth from his patrol car a few times before she pulled out her camera phone.

“And that’s when I start recording. Only because I never thought that the situation was going to turn out that way at all. But I knew that he was just doing too much,” she said.

The encounter escalated when the officer returned with a citation, and Thompson refused to exit her vehicle.

Civil Rights attorney Lee Merritt, who is now representing Thompson, said the onus was on the officer to de-escalate.

“Being the ones with the training, being the ones with the license and the professionals in the situation, it was on him to do what he could to issue the ticket as his job required and issue the ticket and move on,” said Merritt.

In a statement to NBC 5, the Hurst Police Department said they received a formal complaint. The statement reads:

On January 16, 2026, Hurst officers conducted a traffic stop that resulted in an arrest. A formal complaint was filed on January 20, 2026, claiming excessive use of force, and an Internal Affairs Investigation was opened. A thorough investigation was conducted, the claims submitted were determined to be unfounded, and the Internal Affairs Investigation was closed.
We are aware of the community concern about this situation, and we are committed to remaining transparent. The Tarrant County District Attorney’s Office is continuing to investigate the charges stemming from the original traffic stop. Because of this, we are unable to release additional information at this time. The Hurst Police Department is dedicated to protecting our community and enforcing local, state, and federal laws. Public support and well-established lines of communication are of utmost importance to our Department.

“She wasn’t happy, and I think that the officer caught wind that she had an attitude, and this officer decided to punish her for her attitude,” said Merritt.

Merritt acknowledged that officers could make arrests for littering. However, he questioned whether this situation warranted the officer’s actions.

“Here, the officers are given discretion to say, ‘Is this a situation that requires an arrest?” he said.

In his legal opinion, Merritt said this was a violation of Thompson’s Fourth Amendment rights, which protect individuals from unreasonable searches and seizures.

“If he actually believed that dropping the ticket on the ground was an arrestable offense and was the kind of littering that was designed to make an arrest for, he could have instructed Ms. Thompson that, ‘you’re under arrest. I’ll wait till my supervising officer gets here or another officer that you’re more comfortable with because of the nature of our interaction,” said Merritt.

Thompson says she was traumatized and doesn’t feel she did anything wrong.

“I was very scared, like that is the main reason why I did not want to get out of the car,” she said.

She said she’s considering therapy for her son.

“I feel bad for my son that he had to see me, you know, that way. I know he’s really hurt behind that,” Thompson said.

Merritt says he feels a federal civil rights investigation is appropriate. Late Thursday night, Merritt issued a press release demanding the following from the City of Hurst: A full, independent investigation into the officer’s conduct, immediate release of all body-worn camera footage from the encounter, and “concrete accountability measures” within the Hurst Police Department.

Merrit is quoted in the press release with this statement:

“What happened to Taneisha Thompson is not an isolated failure — it is a reflection of a systemic crisis in American policing. A mother was brutalized in front of her child over a piece of paper. No threat was present. No law demanded this response. This was a choice — and it was the wrong one. We will pursue every available legal remedy on behalf of Ms. Thompson and demand full accountability from the Hurst Police Department.”

The Texas Municipal Police Association also released a statement Tuesday evening, which the organization posted to its Facebook page. The organization’s statement reads in part:

Civil rights attorney Lee Merritt (@leemerrittesq ) took to social media, pushing a false narrative about a traffic stop involving one of our members at the Hust Police Department. Here are the facts. The driver was speeding in a school zone. When the officer issued the citation, she threw the ticket out the window onto the roadway. That’s littering. When the officer attempted to arrest her, she resisted. Now Merritt is claiming “injuries caused by use of force.” No sir. If your client had complied with the law instead of resisting arrest, there would have been no bruising and no injuries. That’s on her…TMPA stands firmly behind our member and the officers of the Hurst Police Department”.

The Tarrant County District Attorney’s Office did not comment on our requests for information as the case is pending.