A Marine veteran told jailers he couldn’t breathe. They kept kneeling on his back anyway. Ninety seconds. The medical examiner called it a homicide by asphyxiation. And Tarrant County’s response? A court filing that says, essentially, “prove it’s our fault.”
Bless their hearts. They really do think we can’t read.
Anthony Johnson Jr. served this country in the Marines. He came home with a schizophrenia diagnosis, according to his family, and ended up in Tarrant County Jail. On April 21, 2024, detention officers pepper-sprayed him, pinned him face-down on the floor, and one jailer knelt on his back for a minute and a half while Johnson said he couldn’t breathe. He died right there. The whole thing is on video. The Tarrant County Medical Examiner ruled it a homicide.
Two jailers, Rafael Moreno and Joel Garcia, have been indicted for murder. They’re awaiting trial. So far, so good, right? Someone was actually charged. But here’s where it gets rotten.
Anthony’s parents sued the county and 15 detention officers. U.S. District Court Judge Reed O’Connor tossed the county itself and seven jailers out of the lawsuit last year, ruling the family hadn’t proved county policies caused the death. The family appealed in December. And this week, Tarrant County filed its response in the Fifth Circuit, arguing it bears zero responsibility because the family hasn’t shown a “pattern” of similar violations.
Seventy-plus people have died in Tarrant County Jail since 2017. Seventy. But the county says those deaths aren’t “specific nor similar enough” to count as a pattern. I guess they’re waiting for 70 identical deaths before they connect the dots.
The family’s attorney, Daryl Washington, put it plainly: “For the county to now try to argue that they’re not responsible for all the deaths that took place and for them to argue that they provided their jailers with adequate training is disingenuous.” That’s lawyer talk for “y’all are lying.” He also said Anthony should be alive today. He’s right.
Here’s the part that ought to make every taxpayer in Tarrant County furious. The commissioners court just approved another $60,000 to hire lawyers for detention officers named in the suit. That’s on top of whatever they’ve already spent. Your money. Defending the system that killed a Marine veteran. Washington nailed it again: “Instead of acknowledging that Anthony’s death was wrong and trying to fix a broken system, what they’ve decided to do now is to spend hundreds of thousands of taxpayers’ dollars defending wrong.”
And the county is still fighting to keep the full, unredacted video from the family. They released partial footage in 2024, a security camera angle and a cell phone video. But the complete video leading up to Johnson’s death? The county says the family isn’t entitled to it. What are they hiding? When the government fights this hard to keep you from seeing something, you already know the answer.
Sheriff Bill Waybourn has publicly claimed jail deaths are “trending downward.” The Texas Jail Project says he’s reshaping the numbers to hide what’s really happening. I don’t know about you, but I’ve heard enough official narratives to last a lifetime. A man who served this country died gasping for air on a concrete floor, and the people in charge want to argue about definitions and patterns and whether they technically, legally, on paper, have to answer for it.
Anthony Johnson Sr. had to stand in front of the Texas Commission on Jail Standards and explain their own rules back to them. A parent. Explaining the rules. To the people whose job it is to enforce the rules. Because nobody else was doing it.
His sister screamed “You guys killed my brother” and got forcibly removed for being loud. That’s what they do. They kill your family member, and if you get upset about it, you’re the problem.
Seventy deaths. One homicide ruling on video. Zero accountability from the county. And they’re using your tax dollars to make sure it stays that way.
- KERA News: Tarrant County maintains it is not responsible for Anthony Johnson Jr.’s death
- Texas Jail Project YouTube channel: Anthony Johnson Jr. coverage