A woman unceremoniously dubbed #SwingSetSusan has been charged for impersonating a member of the Fort Worth Police Department (FWPD).
According to local Fox affiliate KDFW, 38-year-old Samantha Eley was charged Wednesday with one count of impersonating a public servant after verbally harassing several Hispanic teens who were playing at an all-ages park near Fort Worth’s Trinity River.
FWPD noted on Twitter that the impersonation charges were added while Eley was already serving time in the Tarrant County jail on a bond violation related to an assault charge in a separate case.
Tarrant County Jail
Last week, Eley was caught on cell phone video accosting several teenagers at the Dream Park. That video quickly went viral.
In the footage, multiple teenage girls can be seen playing on an orange swing set, generally having fun and minding their business until Eley arrives–announcing her presence by angrily shouting.
“Stop! Stop!” she says–hushing the into group into a puzzled quiet. “It’s a children’s park, stop. Stop now.”
“Eley then saunters up to the group and “slams her hands down on the swing one of the girls was using,” according to the warrant issued by FWPD and obtained by the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
“We are children?” a somewhat confused girl says off-camera.
“No, you’re not,” Eley responds. “And if you think you’re a fucking child, are you over the age [allowed to be in the park]?”
The teenagers immediately protest that they are not over the age allowed in the park and criticize the woman’s interference.
“Okay, well,” the woman says while waving her hands, “I’m a fucking PD, so get the fuck out of here now if you’re not here to play as a child. Read the fucking sign.”
The park is, in fact, an inclusive space which prides itself on being open to all–regardless of age, physical, or neurological condition.
Near the end of the video, one of the girls attempts to reason with Eley–explaining that she’s only 16-years-old.
“Right,” she says. “Then you’re not a fucking child. Thirteen or younger. Actually not, because you provoked yourself as a child and you’re not even acting like a child. Are you? You said you’re 16. If you’re not, I can literally arrest you as an adult. Which is your choice? Are you a child or are you a god damned adult?”
The Star-Telegram notes:
One of the girls interviewed by a Fort Worth police detective said she and her friends left the park after the interaction with Eley because she thought Eley was a police officer, according to the warrant.
The girls later identified Eley in a photo lineup–prompting the Wednesday public servant impersonation charge.
Eley declined to discuss the incident in the park when asked to do so by a FWPD detective, according to the warrant, which says she has previously gone by the names of Samantha Silvers and Samantha Chacon.
She is currently in custody at the Tarrant County Jail in lieu of a $2,500 bond.
[image via screengrab/Twitter]
