Star-Telegram investigation of Tarrant jail death prompts independent autopsy review
An independent medical examiner will review the autopsy of Robert Geron Miller, a 38-year-old man whose death in 2019 after Tarrant County jailers pepper-sprayed him was the subject of a Star-Telegram investigation published last month.
The autopsy concluded that Miller died of natural causes due to sickle cell crisis. The Star-Telegram’s review of the case, including the use of medical experts, found it highly unlikely that Miller had sickle cell disease.
Miller died on Aug. 1, 2019, hours after he was brought to jail. Sheriff’s officers had pepper-sprayed him at least three times at close range while he was being booked, and he was found unconscious and face-down in his cell 38 minutes later after complaining that he couldn’t breathe. He was homeless and suffered from mental illness; police arrested him on old misdemeanor warrants and unpaid fines.
The Star-Telegram’s investigation, which included examination of Miller’s hospital records, cast doubt on county medical examiner Richard Fries’ autopsy that cited natural causes.
After the story published in October, Tarrant County Commissioner Roy Brooks announced that the county’s current chief medical examiner, Kendall Crowns, would do the review of Miller’s autopsy. Crowns was not involved in the 2019 Miller case and did not work for Tarrant County at the time.
But on Tuesday, after several members of the public again spoke at a county commissioners meeting urging a federal investigation into the Tarrant County Jail, Brooks said an independent medical examiner would conduct the review.
“Once we get that, we will be in a position to decide what the next courses of action are,” Brooks said.
In a brief interview after the meeting, Tarrant County Administrator G.K. Maenius said officials are in negotiations with several people who might take on the autopsy review. Maenius commended Crowns for his work, but county leaders want someone without any potential conflicts.
“It’s just a matter of having another set of eyes,” Maenius said.
He could not say when the review might be finished, but officials are “moving aggressively to get this done.”
Star-Telegram’s investigation
In reviewing the case, the Star-Telegram obtained jail witness statements, Miller’s hospital records and other documents that were part of an internal Texas Rangers report about Miller’s death.
The experts in medicine, pathology and sickle cell disease whom the Star-Telegram consulted said it would be nearly impossible for an adult to have sickle cell anemia and not know it. Miller’s wife and father confirmed that he was not afflicted with the disease.
Hannah Lichtsinn, an internal medicine doctor and sickle cell expert in Minnesota, reviewed Miller’s hospital records and other documents obtained by the Star-Telegram.
She said the doctors at John Peter Smith Hospital in Fort Worth who treated Miller noted his red blood cells were healthy, not anemic where they could deprive him of oxygen.
“I can tell you his kidneys were healthy until he had his cardiac arrest,” Lichtsinn said, describing her observations from the hospital records. “I can tell you that his blood counts were pretty normal until he had his cardiac arrest, and so was his liver. I can tell you that he wasn’t on drugs. And I can tell you he didn’t have sickle cell anemia.”
When jail staff found Miller unconscious, they reported it to medics as a possible drug overdose. Miller was in cardiac arrest with low oxygen levels and inflamed lungs filled with fluid. At the hospital, his neck was swelled and blood leaked from his ears and nose. No drugs were in his system.
The Star-Telegram’s reporting questioned the thoroughness of Texas Ranger Trace McDonald’s investigation into Miller’s death. Records don’t indicate whether McDonald discussed Miller’s condition with hospital staff. McDonald’s report also contained inconsistencies between the jailers’ accounts of what led to the pepper-spraying.
Miller was one of at least 46 people who have died from various causes in Tarrant County Jail since 2019.
How Miller ended up in jail
Fort Worth police arrested Miller off East Lancaster Avenue on July 31, 2019, after someone complained about a panhandler.
The officers discovered that Miller had misdemeanor warrants related to his homelessness and intended to take him to a city jail, where he likely would have been cited and released.
But Miller grew angry when the officers wouldn’t allow him to clean up his camp. He repeatedly kicked a patrol car door and said he hated the police. An officer got an estimate from the city’s body shop on the damaged door that was $1 over the threshold to charge Miller with a higher misdemeanor and book him in the Tarrant County Jail.
He was pepper-sprayed during the intake process and complained to a nurse that he couldn’t breathe. He went into cardiac arrest shortly after.
The Sheriff’s Office declined to answer questions about the Star-Telegram’s investigation. The Medical Examiner’s Office and the Department of Public Safety, which oversees the Texas Rangers, also declined to comment.
This story was originally published November 1, 2022 at 4:27 PM.
