Lawsuit filed by parents of Anthony Johnson over son’s killing in Tarrant County Jail
Read the latest in our coverage of the death of Anthony Johnson Jr. and other issues in Tarrant County jail.
The family of Anthony Johnson Jr. has filed a lawsuit against Tarrant County, two named jailers and other unnamed jailers in connection with Johnson’s death in the Tarrant County Jail on April 21.
Daryl Washington, the civil rights attorney representing the Johnson family, filed the suit Monday in federal court in Fort Worth.
Johnson, a 31-year-old Marine veteran, died in the Tarrant County Jail during an altercation with detention officers after he was arrested amid a schizophrenic episode. The arrest on April 19 came after his family took him to a mental health hospital and he was denied admission, according to the family. The hospital told them he wasn’t yet violent toward himself or others, so he had to go home, the family said.
Johnson was in the Tarrant jail for less than 24 hours when during a contraband check he was pulled from his cell and got into a brief fight with jailers, according to partial video of the altercation. After officers pepper-sprayed Johnson and had him handcuffed and face-down on the floor, a heavyset jailer put his knee on Johnson’s back for 90 seconds, the video shows.
The Tarrant County Medical Examiner’s Office ruled Johnson’s death a homicide caused by mechanical and chemical asphyxiation.
Rafael Moreno, the jailer who knelt on Johnson, and supervisor Lt. Joel Garcia have both indicted on murder charges. They were fired by Sheriff Bill Waybourn, and they are both named as defendants in the lawsuit.
The complaint, filed in U.S. District Court in the Northern District of Texas, seeks damages for Johnson’s death and suffering, along with pain and suffering endured by the family.
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The lawsuit also includes John Doe jailers one through 10, indicating 10 other jailers will be named later.
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