A man died Monday morning after stabbing himself during a tense confrontation with Fort Worth police at a business in the 2500 block of NE 36th Street. Officers said the man had arrived at the location in a vehicle with two flat tires, left the car with his dog, and wandered around the property before the encounter turned deadly.
According to the Fort Worth Police Department, the man did not work at the business where the disturbance unfolded. As reported by the Star-Telegram, officers arrived at about 7:25 a.m. to find the man yelling obscenities and displaying a knife.
Police said officers issued verbal orders before one of them deployed a Taser. The man then stabbed himself with the knife after being shocked, per the department's account relayed to the Star-Telegram. Officers attempted to provide medical aid, but the man died at the scene.
Identity Still Withheld as Detectives Investigate
The man's name and age had not been released by the Tarrant County Medical Examiner's Office, the same report notes. Major case unit detectives responded to the scene, which the Star-Telegram's account describes as standard protocol for the department when a death occurs during a police encounter.
No further details have emerged about what led the man to the property that morning, and police have not said whether he had a documented mental health crisis or any connection to the business beyond the disturbance itself.
Scrutiny Over Fort Worth Police Force Practices
The incident comes amid broader scrutiny of how Fort Worth officers use force in the field. A review of department practices found what reviewers called a concerning pattern, with officers making tactical errors, failing to de-escalate conflicts and using unauthorized force, according to CBS News Texas. That review examined more than 200 cases and found the behavior was often tolerated by command staff.
The city commissioned that report in November 2019, after then-officer Aaron Dean fatally shot Atatiana Jefferson the previous month, the outlet reported. A preliminary phase released in July 2020 found officers were not consistently following policies meant to avoid force, and the department later introduced changes including eliminating no-knock warrants and expanding crisis-intervention teams. Those measures did not appear to significantly change officers' street behavior or residents' experiences when interacting with police, according to the same review.
Other cases cited in that review included an incident in which officers gave a man a one-second warning before deploying a Taser because they believed his facial expressions suggested he might not comply, and another in which officers tased a woman and her dog during a mental health detention despite finding she posed no threat to anyone.
The Fort Worth Police Department maintains annual and monthly use-of-force reports intended to track statistical data on force incidents department-wide. It remains unclear whether Monday's death will prompt a separate administrative or criminal review specific to this case.
Anyone experiencing a mental health crisis can reach the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, which offers free and confidential emotional support 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
