Tarrant commissioner urges transparency after jail deaths

Tarrant County Commissioner Manny Ramirez announced Thursday that he will propose a plan to address “deficiencies” in how the sheriff’s office communicates and releases information about incustody deaths.

Ramirez’s statement comes two days after Sheriff Bill Waybourn skipped a Commissioners Court meeting in which recent jail deaths were on the agenda, including Marine veteran Anthony Johnson Jr. in April. Instead of a briefing for commissioners, county administrator Chandler Merritt read from two press releases the sheriff had used weeks earlier to announce the deaths.

Johnson’s family has demanded information about how he died, including the release of video from inside the jail. The sheriff has refused, saying the case is under investigation. The StarTelegram has also sought the video through public records requests.

Ramirez stopped short of calling on the sheriff to release the video.

“After observing the response to several recent critical incidents, including the most recent death in custody of Mr. Anthony Johnson, it has become apparent that we are not doing enough to share information with the public,” Ramirez, a former police officer, wrote in a one-page statement. “While every critical incident is unique and will undoubtedly demand a sensitive decision-making process, the public should know what the process is and what to expect as the process proceeds.”

Johnson, 31, died on April 21 after being pepper-sprayed in an altercation with guards during a routine contraband check of his cell, the sheriff’s office has said. He was arrested on April 19 in the throes of a mental health crisis, after his family says he was turned away from a mental hospital.

Commissioner Alisa Simmons has demanded that the sheriff’s office release video of altercation that led to Johnson’s death.

Simmons is one of two Democrats on the Commissioners Court. Ramirez is one of three Republicans. Their fellow commissioners have not publicly commented on the Johnson case.

Democrat Roy Brooks was not in attendance for Tuesday’s meeting.

Ramirez said his proposed policy changes for the sheriff’s office largely mirror best practices and will include proposed timelines to release video, notify next of kin and provide media briefings. Ramirez is the former president of the Fort Worth Police Officers Association.

“The Tarrant County Sheriff’s Office needs more transparent, structured, and consistent communication policies for handling critical incident reporting and releasing video,” Ramirez said.

Johnson’s family, their attorney, Simmons and members of the community have previously called for the release of the video.

While the statement from Ramirez does not call for the video’s release, it does lay out plans to set schedules for when videos are released, news conferences are held, news releases are disseminated and next-of-kin are updated.

Ramirez said the potential policy models after that of similarly sized law enforcement agencies. The policy would also allow the public to have a timeline they could count on for the release of information, he wrote.

“Only when our community members clearly understand the consistent and uniformly applied process when there are critical incidents or incustody deaths can they develop trust that these processes are followed,” the release read. “In Tarrant County, when we face challenges, we will step up and solve them no matter how tough.”

While the sheriff and no representatives of his staff attended Tuesday’s commissioners meeting, Johnson’s family was there.

“You can’t see my pain right now, but I can make sure y’all turn colors and see pain,” Anthony Johnson’s sister Janell Johnson told commissioners.

Daryl Washington, the attorney for the Johnson family, has called for Waybourn to release the video or resign.

“If it’s too much pressure for the sheriff to expose wrongdoing ... he needs to resign,” Washington said in a phone call Wednesday with the StarTelegram. “They’re going to try to keep it from coming out for a long time. It’s going to be damning. You’re going to see someone who didn’t want to die.”