WATCH: Video shows knee on Anthony Johnson Jr.’s back before death; 2 Tarrant jailers fired
Video released Thursday by Tarrant County Sheriff Bill Waybourn shows a large detention officer put his weight on Anthony Johnson Jr. with his knee on the handcuffed inmate’s back for about 90 seconds before Johnson became unresponsive and later was pronounced dead.
Seconds after the officer knelt on him, Johnson can be heard on the video saying he can’t breathe.
That officer and the supervisor on duty at the jail were fired this week after the Texas Rangers completed interviews Wednesday in their criminal investigation of Johnson’s death. The investigation is ongoing and no charges have been announced.
Waybourn and Texas Department of Public Safety Regional Director Jeremy Sherrod gave updates on the investigation and showed portions of two videos leading up to Johnson’s death at a news conference Thursday afternoon. The news conference was called after three weeks of silence from the Sheriff’s Office and news Thursday that the two jail employees were fired.
Waybourn released the names of the two fired employees, Detention Officer Rafael Moreno and Lt. Joel Garcia. Moreno put his knee on Johnson’s back while he was restrained on the ground, after which Johnson was unresponsive, and there were delays in getting him medical treatment, Waybourn said.
Waybourn would not say specifically how long it took to get Johnson to medics.
Autopsy results are still pending, according to the Tarrant County Medical Examiner’s Office website.
A knee on the back is only allowed during the process of getting restraints on an inmate or suspect, after which officers are supposed to get the inmate up into a “recovery position,” Waybourn said. In this case, Moreno should have never used his knee because Johnson was already handcuffed, the sheriff said.
Garcia was terminated on the basis that he was in charge and “allowing this to occur,” and he was not urgent in carrying out his duties, Waybourn said. Garcia took cellphone video of the altercation, part of which was shown, along with jail surveillance video. It’s policy for jail staff to record fights with inmates, and Garcia used his work cellphone because a GoPro wasn’t working, the sheriff said.
The district attorney’s office showed the over five minutes of video to Johnson’s family before the press conference.
What the videos show
The video opens when, according to Waybourn, Johnson refused to come out of his cell for a contraband check and a “long fight” ensued during which multiple officers tried to restrain Johnson near a second-floor railing outside the cells.
The first portion of the video, which comes from a surveillance camera inside the jail, does not include sound.
When Johnson comes out of the cell, the video shows him appear to try to walk all the way out when a jailer pushes him backward toward the doorway. Johnson spreads his arms, appears agitated and then is pulled from the doorway, turned and held against the wall outside the cell.
Officers gathered around Johnson as he was held against the wall. As they surround him, it appears the detention officers begin to struggle with Johnson and lose control of him. After he breaks free from them, he grabs ahold of the railing on the second floor.
At this point, Waybourn said, detention officers were worried Johnson was going to try to jump over. It’s not clear from the footage if he ever made any attempt to get over the railing or if he just grabbed ahold of it.
Detention officers continue to struggle with him, eventually getting him to the ground. It’s not evident from the video at which point pepper-spray is used. As four detention officers try to put him to the ground, one officer punches him several times. As officers pin Johnson to the ground, Moreno, Garcia and others can be seen going up the stairs from the first floor to the second.
The video released by the sheriff’s office at this point transitions to the cellphone video. No further footage from the surveillance video is included in what was released.
The cellphone video includes sound. It starts with sirens blaring in the jail as officers run through two doorways to get into the pod in which Johnson was being kept.
“Where you at?” one officer can be heard asking.
Another says, “Upstairs, upstairs.”
One officer from the second floor shouts for Garcia as the group runs up the stairs. When the first officer of that group arrives, someone can be heard yelling at Johnson to stop resisting and put his hands behind his back. When they reach the top, one officer calls out to Moreno.
“Moreno, look at me, tap Simmons out,” that officer orders.
Moreno nods his head and moves in as Simmons, who Waybourn identified as a detention officer who accidentally pepper-sprayed himself after losing his glasses, is pulled away. Waybourn said Simmons was having difficulty getting the handcuffs on because the pepper spray made it hard for him to see, but that by the time Moreno got to Johnson, someone had cuffed him. The video shows the cuffs secured on Johnson’s wrists.
“Is he restrained?” one detention officer asks. There’s an affirmative response.
“We need to get leg irons,” another responds.
One officer is told to move out of the way, making way for Moreno, as someone says to keep Johnson lying on the ground until they can get leg irons. Moreno, a heavy man, steps into the group of officers. Johnson cannot be seen resisting at this point. Waybourn told reporters at the news conference that Johnson was still kicking his legs, but that is not visible in any of the footage shared.
Johnson remains apparently still, lying on his stomach, as Moreno grabs ahold of the rail for support and lowers himself down, putting his knee on Johnson’s back and putting his weight on him.
“I can’t breathe,” Johnson calls out after about seven seconds.
It’s the last thing Johnson can be heard saying. No one intervenes or responds to his words.
As officers calm down and the calls for leg irons continue, Johnson can be heard wheezing and struggling to take in a breath. For about 30 seconds his shoulders appear to move. After that, they stop. The sounds of Johnson struggling to breathe cease. Officers around him talk about getting leg irons, getting a single cell ready for him and getting him down to a medical team waiting at the bottom of the stairs.
Moreno stays on top of Johnson until someone tells him, “You’re good.”
Johnson doesn’t move when Moreno stands. He doesn’t appear to take a breath. Then the footage cuts off, right after an angle of the video shows Johnson’s face blurred out.
Officers described Johnson as having “superhuman strength,” Waybourn said, and pepper spray seemed to have no effect. After officers “wrestled” Johnson off the rail and handcuffed him, “that’s when Officer Moreno thought it was appropriate to put his knee in his back,” Waybourn said.
Moreno stood up after about 90 seconds and Johnson was unresponsive, the sheriff said. Waybourn said he could not say whether Johnson was dead at that point. He said medics were ready to help but there was a delay in jail staff taking Johnson downstairs to medical.
Garcia’s attorney, Randy Moore, told the Star-Telegram that the video is cut off before Garcia can be heard changing his decision and ordering the medical team to come the top of the stairs.
Johnson, a 31-year-old Marine veteran, died April 21 shortly after the altercation with detention officers at the Tarrant County Jail, according to the Sheriff’s Office.
“It was a very dangerous situation,” Waybourn said. “He was pepper-sprayed because nothing else was working, but it seemed to have no effect.”
Waybourn fired Moreno, supervisor
Moreno, who had worked for the department for nine years, was fired Thursday morning by Waybourn, and Garcia was fired on Wednesday, according to their attorneys. Garcia had been with the Sheriff’s Office for 24 years.
“This is a traumatic situation,” Waybourn said. “Our heart breaks for the family, we grieve alongside of them.”
Waybourn said both officers were suspended soon after investigators viewed the video, but he waited until interviews were complete and he had “all the facts” before firing them.
“We wanted to be as transparent as we possibly could, but we also want to protect the investigation,” he said.
Fired jailers’ attorneys speak
Jane Bishkin, an attorney with the Combined Law Enforcement Associations of Texas, told WFAA that the termination letter for Moreno did not give a reason for the officer’s firing, and she plans to appeal.
Waybourn “did not give a reason for the termination, but of course we disagree,” Bishkin said. “We don’t believe any of our members violated departmental policies or contributed to the inmate’s death in any way.”
“We feel that the sheriff’s actions are premature as the medical examiner’s’ report has not been released. Therefore, we don’t know the cause of death,” Bishkin said. “We believe the sheriff’s actions are a response to the heightened public interest in this case.”
Moore, the attorney representing Garcia, said the lieutenant did not do anything about the situation other than record it because there were already other supervisors on scene. He didn’t want to create any more confusion by giving commands that might contradict those given, but eventually did take over the scene, the attorney said.
Moore also alleged that what Waybourn said about the medical response wasn’t accurate. Moore said that a portion of the cellphone video not released to the public shows that medical team came up the stairs instead of the detention officers taking Johnson down the stairs.
“When my client knew that something was wrong he yelled at them to come up the stairs to intervene and they did,” Moore told the Star-Telegram.
He said the initial plan was to take Johnson down the stairs, but because he was fully restrained and unresponsive, they changed course.
Moore said Garcia intends to appeal his firing. He said that if someone from the sheriff’s office should be out of a job, it should be Waybourn.
“If you’re going to fire him because he’s the captain of the ship, why do you stop at the lieutenant?” Moore asked.
Moore said Garcia gave a voluntary statement to the Texas Ranger who is leading the criminal investigation and then was fired without explanation during a meeting with internal affairs, WFAA reported.
What has the family of Anthony Johnson Jr. said?
On Monday an attorney for Johnson’s family, Daryl Washington, told the Star-Telegram that the family still hadn’t heard anything from the Texas Rangers about their investigation. The Rangers are a division of DPS.
Washington has said Johnson’s body had bruises that suggested significant force was used.
Johnson was arrested in Saginaw on April 19 amid a schizophrenic episode. His family told the Star-Telegram they tried to take him to a mental health hospital but were told he wasn’t violent enough to admit.
Johnson’s family demanded transparency from Tarrant County and its Sheriff’s Office in front of a packed meeting room on May 7.
“You can’t see my pain right now, but I can make sure y’all turn colors and see pain,” Anthony Johnson’s sister Janell Johnson told county commissioners.
Before allowing public comments, the commissioners listened to county administrator Chandler Merritt — who does not work for the Sheriff’s Office — read statements that had previously been released to the media about Anthony Johnson’s death.
Sheriff Waybourn, who is regularly in attendance at commissioners court meetings, was not present, nor was any representative of his office.
On their way out of the meeting room and following her and her two daughters’ public comments, Johnson’s mother, Jacqualyne, told commissioners, “We want that tape.”
Washington had also called for the release of the video.
“If it’s too much pressure for the sheriff to expose wrongdoing ... he needs to resign,” Washington told the Star-Telegram on May 8. “They’re going to try to keep it from coming out for a long time. It’s going to be damning. You’re going to see someone who didn’t want to die.”
What have Tarrant leaders said about the jail death?
Tarrant County Judge Tim O’Hare said the conduct of jail personnel involved in the death of an inmate “invokes strong emotions.”
O’Hare issued a statement within an hour of the Sheriff’s Office releasing the video.
“Whenever an inmate dies in custody, it highlights the enormous responsibility of detention personnel to safeguard the well-being and security of every individual under their care,” O’Hare said. “The conduct of jail personnel with respect to the death of Mr. Johnson invokes strong emotions.”
County Commissioner Alisa Simmons asked for the video to be shown during the closed session of commissioners court. Her request was denied.
Simmons echoed her call for the video to be released on Thursday after the Sheriff’s Office announced the press conference.
“Today, I am amplifying my call for the release of all video that captured the April 21, 2024, altercation that preceded the death of Mr. Anthony Johnson,” Simmons’ statement said.
“Clearly, today’s termination of a jail staffer by the Sheriff is indicative of conduct so egregious in the Johnson case that it has warranted at least one termination.”
The statement also called for the family to see the video before anyone else.
On May 9, County Commissioner Manny Ramirez called for transparency from the Sheriff’s Office.
“After observing the response to several recent critical incidents, including the most recent death in custody of Mr. Anthony Johnson, it has become apparent that we are not doing enough to share information with the public,” Ramirez said in a statement last week.
While the statement from Ramirez — former president of the Fort Worth Police Officers Association — stopped short of calling for the video’s release, it does lay out plans to set schedules for when videos are released, news conferences are held, news releases are disseminated and next-of-kin are updated.
This story was originally published May 16, 2024 at 2:48 PM.
