{"id":212598,"date":"2026-03-20T07:12:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-20T07:12:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/212598\/"},"modified":"2026-03-20T07:12:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-20T07:12:09","slug":"hurst-police-release-bodycam-of-viral-traffic-stop-incident","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/212598\/","title":{"rendered":"Hurst police release bodycam of viral traffic stop incident"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Hurst Police Department has released body-camera footage of the January traffic stop that went viral<\/a> on social media.<\/p>\n

Taneisha Thompson was arrested Jan. 16 after being pulled over and accused of speeding. Her video of the officer pulling her out of the car by the neck garnered millions of views and sparked a debate over use of excessive force.<\/p>\n

Hurst Police Chief Billy Keadle said Thursday in a public information release<\/a> that the department is releasing the footage to address public concerns.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe clips on social media have misrepresented our officer and have misled some of our community,\u201d Keadle said. \u201cTransparency matters and so does accuracy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bodycam footage shows Cpl. Brandon Morgan getting out of his police vehicle and approaching Thompson\u2019s white SUV. He introduced himself and said the reason for the stop was that she\u2019d just driven through a school zone at 40 miles per hour.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a 25 through there,\u201d Morgan told her.<\/p>\n

While Thompson retrieved her driver license, Morgan asked where she was headed or coming from.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s none of your business,\u201d Thompson replied.<\/p>\n

Thompson began scrolling through her phone, looking for proof of insurance. When Morgan asked if there was any reason for her hurry, Thompson said she wasn\u2019t in a hurry and hadn\u2019t seen a school zone.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was a flashing signal as you were driving through,\u201d Morgan said.<\/p>\n

The officer checked Thompson\u2019s license inside his police vehicle and returned to her SUV a couple of minutes later.<\/p>\n

\u201cOK, Taneisha, you\u2019ll be receiving a citation today for the speed,\u201d he said. \u201cI just need to get a signature from you. This is not an admission of guilt.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not signing that,\u201d Thompson replied.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s fine; I\u2019ll just put refuse,\u201d Morgan said. \u201cI need to get the VIN number on the car real quick. I\u2019ll enter that. I\u2019ll print you your copy and send you on your way.\u201d<\/p>\n

Morgan moved to the front of the SUV and realized there was no registration sticker on the windshield. Thompson said she\u2019d just bought the vehicle and was still waiting for the sticker. Morgan recommended that she carry the bill of sale with her since she didn\u2019t have the registration sticker yet.<\/p>\n

Morgan went back to his vehicle to print the citation and then tried to hand it to Thompson.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t want it,\u201d she told him.<\/p>\n

Morgan handed Thompson the citation anyway along with her license. Thompson accepted the license but can be seen tossing the citation out the window.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s littering,\u201d Morgan said. \u201cStep out of the car.\u201d<\/p>\n

Morgan reached inside the car to open the door. Thompson is heard saying, \u201cDon\u2019t do that.\u201d Morgan keeps telling her to \u201cStep out.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not stepping out!\u201d Thompson said emphatically. Thompson\u2019s 15-year-old son, who is in the front passenger seat, can be heard saying, \u201cMom, go!\u201d<\/p>\n

Morgan grabbed Thompson by her left arm. She told him to \u201cCall your … supervisor,\u201d to which he responded \u201cI am the supervisor.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re not the supervisor,\u201d Thompson argued. She remained seated in the vehicle, while Morgan kept hold of her arm.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not stepping out of nothing,\u201d she insisted. \u201cGet your hand off me!\u201d<\/p>\n

Morgan kept asking Thompson to get out of the vehicle, but she accused him of dropping the ticket and continued to argue with him.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re doing too much. I\u2019m not afraid of you,\u201d she said at one point.<\/p>\n

\u201cIs there anything I can do to get you to comply?\u201d Morgan asked.<\/p>\n

Thompson repeated that Morgan threw the ticket at her. Finally she said, \u201cOK, give me the ticket.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, we\u2019re past that,\u201d Morgan told her. \u201cYou\u2019re under arrest. Step out of the car.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thompson kept refusing, saying she was with her child. Morgan said he understood that, but she needed to step out anyway.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll step out when another officer gets here,\u201d Thompson said. \u201cI\u2019m not … I don\u2019t trust you. You\u2019re holding me too strong.\u201d<\/p>\n

Morgan said he was holding her because he didn\u2019t trust her to not leave. He promised to let go of her arm if she would get out of the vehicle.<\/p>\n

Thompson kept yelling that she wasn\u2019t going to get out, and Morgan told her she was resisting arrest.<\/p>\n

She kept insisting that Morgan call his supervisor, to which Morgan replied that he was the highest supervisor on duty that day and there was no one to call.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is someone else,\u201d she yelled at him.<\/p>\n

Morgan tried to pull Thompson out of the SUV, and she can be seen trying to kick him away.<\/p>\n

The video from Thompson\u2019s car shows Morgan reaching into the SUV, putting both hands behind her neck and pulling her out. Thompson continued to struggle against the officer while her son pleaded for them to stop.<\/p>\n

Other officers had arrived by that point and assisted Morgan in getting Thompson on the ground. She\u2019s told to roll over. Two officers hold her down while a third snaps handcuffs on her wrists.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll you had to do was take the ticket and leave,\u201d Morgan told her.<\/p>\n

Thompson appeared to have a cut on her lower lip. An officer patted her down and put her in the back of a patrol vehicle.<\/p>\n

Civil rights attorney Lee Merritt, who is representing Thompson, told the Star-Telegram that Morgan could have de-escalated<\/a> the situation. He said his client sustained a black eye and bruises and needed stitches in her lower lip.<\/p>\n

Merritt posted Thompson\u2019s video of the incident on his social media pages and called for the community to speak out against Morgan\u2019s actions at an upcoming Hurst City Council meeting.<\/p>\n

Keadle said Morgan acted in accordance with the law and with Hurst Police Department policies.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe department stands firmly behind his actions,\u201d Keadle said. \u201cHe was working traffic enforcement in this particular area due to community concern for student safety and speeding near our schools.\u201d<\/p>\n

Keadle emphasized that it\u2019s never the department\u2019s intent to use force, but he said Thompson\u2019s behavior made it necessary. She\u2019s been charged with resisting arrest, he said.<\/p>\n

This story was originally published March 19, 2026 at 2:47 PM.<\/p>\n

Related Stories from Fort Worth Star-Telegram<\/p>\n


\n \"Profile
\n <\/a><\/p>\n

Harriet Ramos<\/a><\/p>\n

Fort Worth Star-Telegram<\/p>\n

Harriet Ramos covers crime and other breaking news for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Hurst Police Department has released body-camera footage of the January traffic stop that went viral on social…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":212599,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[50729,116,118,117,83231,83233,83234,83232],"class_list":["post-212598","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fort-worth","tag-excessive-force","tag-fort-worth","tag-fort-worth-headlines","tag-fort-worth-news","tag-hurst-police-bodycam","tag-hurst-texas-traffic-stop","tag-school-zone-speeding","tag-taneisha-thompson-arrest"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/212598","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=212598"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/212598\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/212599"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=212598"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=212598"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=212598"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}