The family of a Texas man who died after a fight with jailers, including one who pinned his knee into the inmate’s back, called Tuesday for a federal investigation into practices at the prison.
Anthony Johnson Jr., 31, a former Marine, died April 21 following the altercation, which authorities said began when Johnson resisted jailers’ orders during a search for contraband. The Tarrant County coroner last week ruled the death a homicide due to suffocation or suffocation.
After fighting with officials at the Tarrant County Jail in Fort Worth for two to three minutes, Johnson was thrown to the ground, Sheriff Bill Waybourn said, and jailer Rafael Moreno placed his knee in Johnson’s back for about 90 minutes. seconds while he was handcuffed. Waybourn said Johnson was also pepper-sprayed during the incident.
The family’s attorney, Daryl Washington, said at a news conference in Fort Worth on Tuesday that what makes it so difficult for the family is that the death “was completely preventable.”
“This family wants more than anything else to see that there will be changes in the Tarrant County Jail because parents should not bury their children,” Washington said.
Waybourn said Moreno should not have used his knee when Johnson was already handcuffed. Waybourn initially fired Moreno and Lt. Joel Garcia, the on-duty supervisor, but reinstated them about a week later and placed them on paid administrative leave because the sheriff’s office said the firings did not follow official protocol.
“We have incompetent, untrained, inhumane people” working at the prison, Johnson’s father, Anthony Johnson Sr., said at a news conference.
Anthony Johnson Jr. was arrested two days before his death for allegedly using a knife to threaten the driver of a vehicle. His family told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram he was suffering from a mental health crisis.
Randy Moore, Garcia’s attorney, told the Associated Press in a text that Garcia’s role in the fight was limited and that the use of force was necessary. Moreno’s lawyer did not immediately return a phone message Tuesday.
The Texas Rangers are investigating Johnson’s death. Congressman Marc Veasey, who represents the Fort Worth area, and County Commissioner Alisa Simmons have called for a U.S. Department of Justice investigation into problems at the jail.
The force used in Johnson’s death is intended to detain and subdue people without killing them, but it has increasingly come under scrutiny following the 2020 death of Johnson. George Floyd. Floyd died after a Minneapolis police officer pinned him face down on the ground for nine minutes and pinned a knee to the back of Floyd’s head, an incident that sparked outrage across the country.
An AP investigation published in March found that more than 1,000 people died over a decade after police used physical holds and weapons considered safer than firearms.
In hundreds of deaths, the police violated well-known guidelines to safely contain people. Most of the violations involved restraining people face down in ways that could restrict their breathing, as happened to Johnson, or repeatedly stunning them with Tasers.
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