In protest at Tarrant jail, Anthony Johnson Jr. family demands release of full video


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. says they’re no longer asking Sheriff Bill Waybourn to release the full video of Johnson’s death in Tarrant County Jail custody. They’re demanding it.

Speaking at a protest at the front door of the Tarrant County Jail on Thursday afternoon, Johnson family attorney Daryl Washington said Waybourn told the family he will release the video if they want him to.

At the protest Thursday afternoon, Washington said the Sheriff’s Office didn’t publicly release the worst part of the video.

About five minutes of surveillance and cellphone video showing the April 21 altercation with detention officers that led to Johnson’s death was released by the Sheriff’s Office on May 16. That video shows a large detention officer kneel on Johnson’s back for about 90 seconds after Johnson, a 31-year-old Marine veteran, was already handcuffed following a struggle with other officers.

The remaining approximately 10 minutes of cellphone video shows Johnson being slapped, Washington said. It also shows a nurse not taking Johnson’s condition seriously, he said.

“They were saying a lot of things but they weren’t really trying to help him,” Washington told the Star-Telegram.

The family was shown the full video once on May 16 at the Tarrant County Criminal District Attorney’s Office, but they haven’t been given a copy.

Corbin Ray Johnson, 10, Anthony Johnson Jr.’s nephew, speaks to his uncle during his funeral on Friday, May 24, 2024, in Mansfield. The Johnson family is calling for accountability after he was killed while in custody at the Tarrant County Jail.

Before the partial video was released, Sheriff Waybourn fired Rafael Moreno, the officer who knelt on Johnson’s back, and Lt. Joel Garcia, a jail supervisor who recorded the altercation on a cellphone. The two officers were later reinstated to their jobs due to civil service rules not being followed at the time they were fired, one of their attorneys said. They are currently on administrative leave.

Members of Johnson’s family have said they also want to see medical staff disciplined in connection with his death.

Results of an autopsy are pending to determine Johnson’s cause and manner of death.

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