The sister of Anthony Johnson Jr., a man who died in Tarrant County Jail custody in April, was removed from public comment during Tuesday's commissioners court meeting after confronting County Judge Tim O'Hare.
An emotional Janell Johnson, who spoke a month ago demanding answers for her brother's death, said her family still wasn't satisfied with the information they've received after the two officers fired in the wake of her brother's death were reinstated.
"A month and now the people who killed my brother are sitting at the house getting paid right now," Johnson said with a rising voice. "Mr. O'Hare I need you to look at me, you guys killed my brother."
Three Tarrant County Sheriff's officers removed Johnson from the room at O'Hare's instruction.
"I'm not answering you," O'Hare said.
His comments prompted a response from Commissioner Alisa Simmons.
"You need to answer to the public," she said.
Simmons apologized to the Johnson family in a statement issued after the meeting and called Johnson's removal "utterly disrespectful."
"The inability of the county judge to discipline himself—to sit and listen for a mere three minutes to the pain of a grieving family member—is insensitive," she said.
She also said elected leaders open themselves to occasional criticism and that it comes with the job.
"We can’t be so thin-skinned to the point where we’re tossing members of the public from the courtroom if they criticize us," she said.
KERA News reached out to O'Hare and will update this story with any response.
Johnson's comments came after an update on the May 27 in-custody death of Chasity Corday Bonner.
Bonner was booked into jail earlier in the month and was being held on a warrant out of the North Richland Hills Police Department for theft of property between $2,500 and $30,000 and a parole violation.
Tarrant County Detention officers found her unresponsive in her cell at around 9:15 a.m. She was examined and refused further medical treatment before becoming unresponsive again two hours later, the sheriff's office said.
John Peter Smith Hospital medical staff performed life saving measures but she was later pronounced deceased.
Similar to the first commissioners court meeting in which county leaders received an update on Johnson's death, Sheriff Bill Waybourn was not present to speak to commissioners or answer questions. The update was given by County Administrator Chandler Merritt in Waybourn's place.
Bonner is the sixth person to die while in custody at the Tarrant County Jail this year.
Both Merritt and Daphne Walker, a representative with John Peter Smith Hospital, repeated the information given in the initial press release about Bonner's death.
There have been at least 65 deaths in the jail since Waybourn took office. Since the release of some video footage preceding Johnson's death, Waybourn's faced increased calls for his resignation.
Those include Simmons, who at Tuesday's meeting criticized Waybourn's absence.
"Our sheriff again refused to come and brief on this item which should concern all of you, every citizen," Simmons said.
Executive Chief Deputy Charles Eckert announced his retirement about a month after Johnson's death. He worked for the TCSO for 32 years and ran the jail since December 2020.
Two jailers at the scene of Johnson's death were fired but have since been reinstated and placed on paid administrative leave. Waybourn said Rafael Moreno broke department policy by leaving his knee on Johnson's back for an extended period while the man was subdued. His supervisor Lt. Joel Garcia was fired for failing to intervene, Wayboun said.
It was later revealed Garcia faced a separate internal affairs investigation before the incident with Johnson. Neither Garcia's lawyer nor the Waybourn's office have confirmed the details of that investigation.
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