2 Tarrant County corrections officers indicted in the death of Anthony Johnson
FORT WORTH – A Tarrant County grand jury has indicted two corrections officers in the death of Anthony Johnson at the county jail.
Rafael Moreno and Lt. Joel Garcia face charges in connection to the April 21 incident that led to Johnson's death. Security video from the incident showed at least six employees wrestling with Johnson, and at least one officer using pepper spray.
Johnson family attorney Daryl K. Washington said the indictments are warranted.
"I think you know, when you see the entire video, I think most people will realize that being indicted for murder is the appropriate charge," Washington told CBS News Texas.
Investigators said the incident evolved from a routine cell shakedown where they found a shank and a razor in Johnson's cell. Tarrant County Sheriff Bill E. Waybourn said Johnson displayed "superhuman" strength as employees started wrestling with him.
Moreno put a knee into Johnson's back, according to investigators, which is against department policy.
"So to continue to keep him in the prone position with your body weight on top of him. That's I mean – it was an intentional act to us," Washington said.
Moreno and Garcia, his supervisor, were fired, but later reinstated and then put on administrative leave because they were not fired properly.
Earlier this month, the Tarrant County Medical Examiner released autopsy results, finding Johnson's cause of death was mechanical and chemical asphyxia.
Washington asked why more people haven't been implicated.
"If they have not been indicted, why?" Washington said, noting others should have at least been terminated.
Saginaw police took Johnson into custody two days before, saying he was standing in an intersection wielding a knife at a driver. Johnson's family said he was experiencing a mental health crisis.
Meanwhile, Tarrant County's sheriff said the wheels of justice "continue to turn in this case."
"I said from the beginning that we hold accountable anyone responsible for Mr. Johnson's death and we are doing that," Waybourn said in a statement.
Waybourn has faced protests and pressure to resign in the wake of Johnson's death, and other deaths at the jail. Since Waybourn took office, more than 60 inmates have died while in Tarrant County's custody.
