Two Texas jail guards are indicted by a county grand jury in the asphyxiation death of an inmate
Two prison guards have been charged with murder by asphyxiation in the death of an inmate in Texas.
The indictments, dated Tuesday, accuse Joel Garcia, 48, and Rafael Moreno Jr., 37, in the April death of 31-year-old former Marine Anthony Johnson Jr. at the Tarrant County Jail in Fort Worth.
Attorneys for Garcia or Moreno did not immediately return calls and text messages seeking comment Friday.
Randy Moore, Garcia’s attorney, previously said Garcia’s role in the fight was limited and that the use of force was necessary.
“The wheels of justice continue to turn in this case,” Sheriff Bill Waybourn said in a statement. “I have said from the beginning that we will hold everyone responsible for Mr. Johnson’s death accountable and we are doing just that.”
Waybourn, who has said Moreno wrongly placed his knee on Johnson’s back after Johnson was handcuffed and that Garcia was the supervisor, initially fired the two, but both were reinstated and placed on paid leave because the sheriff’s office said the dismissals did not comply with official protocol. .
The force used in Johnson’s death was intended to restrain and subdue people without killing them, but has come under increasing scrutiny since Johnson’s death in 2020. George Floyd.
Floyd died after a Minneapolis police officer held him face down on the ground for nine minutes and pressed his knee into Floyd’s neck, an incident that sparked national outrage.
The family of Johnson, who was arrested two days before his death for allegedly using a knife to threaten the driver of a vehicle, has called for a federal investigation into the prison. That’s what the family said Fort Worth Star-Telegram that Johnson was suffering from a mental health crisis.
Four Missouri guards were arrested on Friday were accused with murder, and a fifth with complicity in involuntary manslaughter, in the December death of a black man who was pepper sprayed, had his face covered with a mask and was left in a position that caused him to suffocate.