A federal judge has ruled that Tarrant County is not liable for the death of Marine veteran Anthony Johnson, who died in jail custody in 2022. The judge found that Johnson's death was caused by the actions of individual jailers, not by conditions at the jail.
A federal judge has dismissed Tarrant County from a lawsuit filed by the family of Anthony Johnson , a 31-year-old Marine veteran who died in jail custody in 2022. Judge Reed O’Connor ruled that Johnson's death was caused by the actions of individual jailers, not by conditions at the jail itself. The lawsuit alleged that Tarrant County was liable for Johnson's death under the “conditions of confinement” doctrine.
However, O’Connor found that the plaintiffs' lawsuit did not clearly identify specific county policies that caused jailers to violate Johnson's constitutional rights. The judge also dismissed six individual defendants named in the original case, stating that they were not shown to be responsible for Johnson's death through the use of excessive force or indifference to providing him necessary medical care. One example cited by O’Connor was that two of the defendants placed Johnson in a wheelchair. While acknowledging this action, the judge stated that simply observing this action and doing nothing else does not establish deliberate indifference. Daryl Washington, the Dallas-based civil rights attorney representing the Johnson family, declined to comment on their next steps but emphasized that the dismissal does not change the facts of the case. Washington asserted that the video evidence clearly shows Johnson was murdered and that medical staff from John Peter Smith Hospital failed to provide proper life-saving assistance. He stated that the video will speak for itself, highlighting Johnson's repeated pleas for air. The dismissal of the county will not impact the criminal proceedings against two jailers, Rafael Moreno and Joel Garcia, who are charged with murder in Johnson's death. Moreno is seen kneeling on Johnson's back in the video, while Garcia was a supervisor. Both men were fired by the Sheriff's Office after their indictment
ANTHONY JOHNSON TARRANT COUNTY JAIL DEATH FEDERAL JUDGE LAWSUIT EXCESSIVE FORCE MEDICAL CARE
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