Federal judge dismisses Tarrant County from lawsuit in jail death of Anthony Johnson Jr.
A U.S. district judge dismissed the claims against Tarrant County in the civil case brought by the family of Anthony Johnson Jr., who was killed at the county jail in April, according to the ruling issued Friday, Feb. 7.
In addition to the county, Judge Reed O’Connor dismissed six individual defendants named in the original case, the order states.
The lawsuit will continue against the nine jailers most directly involved with Johnson’s death, including two who face criminal charges. Partial video released by the Tarrant County Sheriff’s Office shows several jailers fighting with Johnson during a contraband search of his cell. Two jailers pepper-sprayed Johnson directly in his mouth, and after he was handcuffed face-down on the ground, a jailer kneeled on his back until he became unresponsive, according to the suit and video.
The Tarrant County Medical Examiner’s Office ruled Johnson’s death a homicide caused by mechanical and chemical asphyxiation.
In the original suit, lawyers for Johnson’s family argued that Tarrant County was liable for the 31-year-old Marine veteran’s death under the “conditions of confinement” doctrine, according to the suit.
O’Connor dismissed the county from the lawsuit on the grounds that Johnson’s death was caused by the actions of individual jailers instead of conditions at the jail such as overcrowding, he wrote in his ruling. The judge also wrote that the plaintiffs’ lawsuit did not clearly identify specific county policies that caused jailers to violate Johnson’s constitutional rights.
O’Connor also determined that the six individuals dismissed from the suit were not shown to be responsible for Johnson’s death through use of excessive force or indifference to providing him necessary medical care. One example he noted is that two of those defendants placed Johnson in a wheelchair.
Putting Johnson “in a wheelchair is taking some action, whether it was negligent or not,” the opinion reads. “That the others saw Johnson placed in a wheelchair and did nothing else does not establish that any of them was deliberately indifferent.”
O’Connor previously served as an assistant district attorney in the Tarrant County District Attorney’s Office prior to his appointment to the federal bench by President George W. Bush in 2007.
Daryl Washington, the Dallas-based civil rights attorney representing the Johnson family, declined to say what his clients’ next steps will be, but said the dismissal does not change the facts of the case nor how he and the family will continue to pursue accountability for Johnson’s death.
“This is not going to change nothing,” he said. “It doesn’t change the fact that Anthony was killed. Not only killed, he was murdered.”
Other facts that only he, Johnson’s family and others who have seen the full video of the altercation have witnessed also remain unchanged, Washington said.
Nor does the ruling change the fact that Johnson was housed in general population when My Health My Resources of Tarrant County knew he had a serious mental illness, Washington said. The attorney and the family have said that the video shows that medical staff from John Peter Smith Hospital working at the jail did not render proper life-saving assistance.
“That video will speak for itself,” he said. “That video will show that not one single deputy tried to assist Anthony. It was clear. Anthony said — you can hear it — Anthony said multiple times that he could not breathe.”
In a statement on Monday, Feb. 10, Sheriff Bill Waybourn said, “Anyone can file a lawsuit and make unfounded claims against a person or organization. Fortunately, our justice system requires evidence to support those allegations.”
Several of the jailers who were dismissed from the suit were not present when Johnson died, according to the Sheriff’s Office statement.
“I’m grateful that Judge O’Connor was able to see through the false and misleading accusations brought forth and dismiss the claims against our detention officers, myself and Tarrant County,” Waybourn said.
“With that said, all loss of life is tragic, and we never want to see anyone die in the Tarrant County Jail,” the statement concludes.
The county’s dismissal from the suit will not impact the criminal proceedings against Rafael Moreno and Joel Garcia, the jailers who are charged with murder in Johnson’s death. Moreno is the jailer shown on the video kneeling on Johnson’s back, and Garcia was a supervisor. Both men were fired by the Sheriff’s Office after they were indicted.
“We hope the county, especially [the Tarrant County Sheriff’s Office] does not interpret this dismissal as a blank check to keep engaging in policies and procedures that have led to serious harms and deaths,” said Krishnaveni Gundu, the director of the Texas Jail Project.
This story was originally published February 8, 2025 at 7:22 PM.
