Tarrant County jailers lied 20 times about checking on an inmate. Then he was found dead
CORRECTION: This story has been updated to correct the details surrounding the departures of the two jailers.
Two officers at the Tarrant County jail were indicted after they lied 20 times on reports about having checked on an inmate’s well-being before he died in June.
Those jailers, Erik Gay and Darien Kirk, were charged with of tampering with a government record after Sheriff Bill Waybourn requested they be investigated, his office said on Wednesday.
This is the second time in a year that employees at the jail have missed critical checks before an inmate was found dead. The jail lost its state certification for six days in the summer of 2020 after a man died by suicide. State investigators found that jailers missed three of their checks, leaving the man alone for nearly an hour, according to documents obtained by the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
Javonte Myers, 28, was found dead in his jail cell on June 19, about a month after the jail earned its certification back. Tarrant County Medical Examiner Tasha Greenberg determined Myers died of a seizure disorder, which he maintained for 10 years with medication, according to his family.
The Star-Telegram received an 11-page copy of Texas Rangers Investigator Clarence McDonald’s report through an open records request on Tuesday.
Myers was booked on June 17 on charges of possession of a controlled substance and criminal trespass. His family said he struggled with addiction and couch surfed or found other places to sleep.
The Texas Rangers’ investigation indicates that employees knew Myers suffered from seizures, bipolar disorder, acute encephalopathy (a brain condition) and respiratory failure. The report says Myers had been prescribed medications for bipolar disorder and an anti-depressant, but it doesn’t list a prescription for his seizure disorder.
Medical staff told McDonald that Myers refused to take the two medications he was prescribed for his mental health. He was placed into a medical cell, which means deputies would have to check on him every 20 minutes and record an entry on a digital log at the start and finish of every check, McDonald wrote.
However, a captain and a chief at the jail told McDonald that the required 20 minute checks weren’t done properly despite the activity log indicating they had been done, according to McDonald’s report. A week later, Waybourn asked specifically for McDonald to investigate the jailers. Waybourn also ordered an internal investigation, Lt. Jennifer Gabbert said.
As a result of the investigation, Gay was terminated. Kirk resigned prior to the completion of the investigation, Gabbert said in an email.
McDonald found 20 instances where a check was entered into the system but did not match with surveillance footage.
In interviews conducted by McDonald, Kirk and Gay admitted to falsifying checks on Myers and other inmates. A third officer said he knew false check had been conducted previously.
Gay told McDonald that jail supervisors are aware of the false entries. The officer also said he was told to consider a visit to feed an inmate as a check “without actually doing the check, ‘to make the computer look good.’”
That officer told McDonald that he previously notified another employee through email that false checks were being entered. He said that employee “has meetings with Sheriff Waybourn.” The report doesn’t say when the officer sent the email or if and when that information got to Waybourn.
Myers was one of 17 people who died in custody of the Tarrant County jail in 2020 either at the jail or after being transferred to John Peter Smith Hospital. Of those deaths, four people died of COVID-19, two died by suicide, seven died of preexisting conditions or natural causes and other autopsies are still pending, according to records kept by the state.
This story was originally published March 11, 2021 at 5:30 AM.
