The prison supervisor fired in connection with Anthony Johnson Jr.’s death at the Tarrant County Jail called for medical personnel less than a minute after realizing the inmate was unconscious, his attorney said in a news release Sunday.
Lt. Joel Garcia was fired and subsequently reinstated and placed on administrative leave in connection with Johnson’s death. His reinstatement was likely a response to the sheriff’s office not following proper protocol in firing him, his attorney Randy Moore previously told the Star-Telegram.
The Tarrant County Medical Examiner’s Office ruled Friday that Johnson’s death was a homicide caused by mechanical and chemical asphyxiation. Partial videos released by the sheriff’s office show a large jailer, identified as Rafael Moreno, putting his knee on Johnson’s back after Johnson was on the ground in handcuffs.
In the partial video, Johnson can be heard struggling to breathe, choking and gagging. He had already been pepper sprayed, handcuffed and placed face down on the ground. The portion of the video released by the sheriff’s office ends after Moreno stands up and Johnson does not move.
Moore, along with Johnson’s family and their attorney, said the rest of the video is essential to understanding the full story.
Moore said that “the use of force became necessary because of Johnson’s attack on detention officers,” adding: “despite what you are being told, the tactics publicly declared as what should have been done are not part of the use of force policy or training at Tarrant County Sheriff’s Office.”
The Star-Telegram has requested the full video, but the sheriff’s office has asked the Texas attorney general’s office for permission to withhold the recording, citing an ongoing investigation.
Garcia was there less than four minutes before he put medical personnel in charge of checking Johnson, Moore said in the news release. Less than a minute after Johnson was found unresponsive, medical teams were called to take over his care.
That’s in the portion of the videos that haven’t been released, Moore said. Daryl Washington, the attorney representing Johnson’s family, said the rest of the video shows Johnson not getting the medical care he needs.
“They didn’t release the bad part,” Johnson’s mother, Jacqualyne Johnson, told the Star-Telegram.
Moore said Garcia is not responsible for Johnson’s death.
“Garcia followed established policy and practice in his limited involvement in this matter,” Moore said in the news release. “He is saddened by the outcome and by the public persecution he suffered before a full investigation was conducted and the full video was released, along with the policies and training actually implemented in the Tarrant County Sheriff’s Office.
Other supervisors were there before Garcia showed up and gave commands, Moore said in the news release. It was only when Johnson became unresponsive that Garcia took over, almost immediately calling for medical personnel to meet him at the top of the stairs.
That contradicts what Tarrant County Sheriff Bill Waybourn told reporters at a news conference in May when the partial video was released. Waybourn said Garcia made the decision to take Johnson down the stairs to the medical center, rather than summoning medical personnel to meet them on the mezzanine floor where Johnson was.
Moore told the Star-Telegram on the day the partial video was released that Garcia actually called for medical personnel to come up the stairs and relinquish control. That’s something shown in the unreleased video, he said.
