Video still from Facebook 
 
 FORT WORTH -- A Facebook video apparently depicting a Fort Worth officer spraying pepper spray into a group of oncoming motorcyclists has received more than 200,000 views in 15 hours. 
 
 Fort Worth police confirmed Monday morning they started investigating the video as soon as they received it. FWPD Corporal Tracey Knight says pepper-spraying drivers is not a department-endorsed tactic. 
 
 News 8 spoke Monday to Jack Kinney, the man who recorded the video with his helmet camera, and Chase Stone, who edited the video and posted it to Facebook. 
 
 They say a group of about 200 motorcyclists were traveling up northbound U.S. 287 in Fort Worth Sunday afternoon when a Fort Worth police officer pulled over one of the motorcycle group's "safety vehicles," which is a vehicle that follows behind bikers in case of an incident. 
 
 In the edited video, which slows down and zooms in at one point, so viewers can see more clearly, the officer appears to spray something directly into oncoming traffic as he exits his vehicle. The bikers say it was pepper spray. 
 
 "It's the last thing I would expect to see," Kinney said. 
 
 "His intent was to hit the bikers for sure, there’s no doubt about it," Stone says. 
 
 The men spoke to News 8 via Skype from Longview, Texas, where they live. 
 
 "His intent was to send somebody down, if not to cause a major accident with that spray," Stone said. 
 
 As the story spread online Monday, viewers shared pictures and videos with us. Two videos show bikers driving "foolishly," the viewer said, on another area highway, poping wheelies and weaving in and out of traffic. Fort Worth police say they had multiple calls about reckless motorcycle drivers on area highways, including 287. 
 
 We asked Stone and Kinney if it was possible the officer felt threatened. 
 
 "If you're worried about safety, why would you pepper spray a large group of bikers like that?" Kinney said. 
 
 They say nothing justifies spraying blinding material into traffic. They say people could've died. 
 
 "When you put other people’s life in danger, it's just uncalled for," Stone said. 
 
 Late Monday afternoon, Fort Worth police announced the officer in the video has been taken off patrol and put on administrative duties until the culmination of the investigation. The officer is a six-year veteran with the force. 
 
 Police also say three of the people in the truck the officer pulled over were cited; the driver, for not having a license, and two others, for riding in the bed of a pickup truck. 
 
 The video can be seen here: 
 
 During the big ride today we had a law enforcement officer, that looked as if he was pulling over a truck, stepped out of his vehicle with mace in hand and began spraying it towards the riders with intention of causing an accident!!! This is a video EVERYONE NEEDS TO WATCH!! Law enforcement is here to protect and serve, not intentionally try to harm others... Please, share this video with others to raise awareness about these particular behavior's being displayed by many of our local law enforcement employees. ***THIS WAS BEYOND DANGEROUS*** Posted by Chase Stone on Monday, March 14, 2016 
 
 Copyright 2016 WFAA ||||| Fort Worth police removed an officer from patrol duties after a video posted to YouTube showed him using pepper spray on motorcycle riders as they rode past him Sunday afternoon. (Published Monday, March 14, 2016) 
 
 Fort Worth police removed an officer from patrol duties Monday after a video posted to YouTube showed him using pepper spray on a group of motorcyclists as they rode past him Sunday afternoon. 
 
 Five people were treated at the scene for exposure to the spray and one man was taken to the hospital with minor injuries, said Medstar spokesman Matt Zavadsky. Records show police called an ambulance shortly after 3 p.m. 
 
 The department announced Officer Figeuroa, whose first name was not given, would be reassigned to an administrative job while an internal investigation is underway. 
 
 Police spokeswoman Cpl. Tracey Knight confirmed late Monday that the officer used pepper spray on the passing bikers and documented it in a report. 
 
 Motorcyclist Chase Stone posted the video on his YouTube channel with the caption, "MUST WATCH!!! This is how our law enforcement chooses to 'protect and serve.'" 
 
 The video appears to show a Fort Worth police officer engaged in a traffic stop with the driver of a red pickup truck when a large number of motorcycles begin to pass their location. As the riders pass, video recorded on a camera worn by one of the riders shows the officer exit his patrol car and spray a yellow mist into the air in the direction of the roadway. 
 
 The footage was slowed down and zoomed in to highlight the officer's actions. 
 
 Fort Worth police said they received several 911 calls from drivers reporting hundreds of motorcyclists weaving in and out of traffic along Highway 287. 
 
 An incident report obtained by NBC 5 confirmed Fort Worth Police Officer W. Figueroa pulled over a red pickup truck along Highway 287 at about 3 p.m. Sunday for "blocking traffic to rocord [sic] motorcycles driving recklessly." 
 
 Stone's YouTube channel contains at least one video showing dozens of trick riders performing stunts on highways, driving in emergency lanes and riding in both lanes of traffic on inner-city roadways -- that video was not recorded Sunday afternoon. 
 
 Brittany Botella, who is six months pregnant, said she was driving the red pickup truck and was cited only for driving without a license. One of her passengers, Markus Hernandez, who has asthma, was hospitalized and given breathing treatments after being exposed to the mist, which Botella believed was Mace. 
 
 "I looked out my mirror and I seen [sic] all the Mace going towards all the bikes. And then it hit us. And then I started choking and that's exactly what happened," Botella said. 
 
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 She said the officer initially confiscated their phones but later returned them. 
 
 Hernandez told NBC 5 he and another passenger were riding in the back of the pickup truck and were each ticketed for standing in the back of a moving vehicle. 
 
 "I think it's not right. I don't think officers should be able to do that just because they've got a badge. We weren't showing no force of hurting him, none of that. He just jumped out with brute of force and sprayed everybody," Hernandez said. "If he would have gotten one of those bikers there would have been a lot of deaths. It wouldn't just be hurt. People would be dead." 
 
 FWPD Investigate Claim Officer Sprayed Bikers With Mace 
 
 Fort Worth police are investigating a video posted to YouTube that motorcycle riders allege shows an officer spraying Mace on them as they rode past him Sunday afternoon. (Published Monday, March 14, 2016) 
 
 Knight said in an email Monday morning, "The Fort Worth Police Department takes any complaint of officer misconduct very seriously and this incident will be investigated thoroughly." 
 
 Anyone with information about the incident is asked to call police at 817-392-4270 or 817-355-4222." 
 

– Police in Fort Worth, Texas, are investigating after a video surfaced showing an officer firing a burst of pepper spray at a group of motorcyclists on a highway. Members of the group say about 200 motorcyclists were traveling on Highway 287 around 3pm Sunday when an officer pulled over a pickup truck, one of the group's "safety vehicles," reports WFAA. As captured by one of the biker's helmet cams, the officer—identified as W. Figueroa, per the Fort Worth Star-Telegram—exited his vehicle on the shoulder of the highway, then sprayed a yellow mist in the direction of the bikers as they passed him. A police rep confirms it was pepper spray and that Figueroa documented its use in a police report, reports NBC Dallas-Fort Worth. She didn't, however, reveal why he used it. Police say the department had received several complaints about the motorcyclists weaving in and out of traffic and generally driving recklessly around the time of the incident. But "if you're worried about safety, why would you pepper-spray a large group of bikers like that?" asks biker Jack Kinney. An ambulance called to the scene over exposure to pepper spray— apparently for those in the pulled-over pickup—transported one person to the hospital who asked to be checked out, notes the Star-Telegram. Another four refused treatment. Figueroa, a six-year veteran with the force, has been placed on administrative duty during the investigation.