Records obtained by KERA News show the Tarrant County Sheriff’s Office use of force and restraint procedures have not been updated in more than 15 years. The policies are under scrutiny after two former deputies were indicted for murder in the death of a man in their custody.
The most current restraint procedures and use of force policies were last revised in 2007 and 2009, respectively.
The death of George Floyd in 2020 — who was killed in Minneapolis after former police officer Derek Chauvin put his knee on Floyd’s neck — sparked racial justice protests across the U.S. and prompted law enforcement agencies to revise their restraint polices.
Tarrant County was not one of them.
In the weeks following the death of Anthony Johnson Jr. in the Tarrant County Jail — which was ruled a homicide — Sheriff Bill Waybourn has said at least one detention officer and supervisor did not follow policy.
Detention officer Rafael Moreno was fired for allegedly violating department policy and his supervisor, Lt. Joel Garcia, was fired for not intervening. Both men were later reinstated and placed on administrative leave.
Both Moreno and Garcia have since been indicted for murder for their alleged roles in Johnson's death.
On Friday, Tarrant County Commissioner Alisa Simmons said in a statement that the actions of Moreno and Garcia were part of a broader problem.
“The actions by jail staff which we saw so farcically and shockingly play out on the partially-released video, resulted from a mix of a toxic jail command climate, poor training, a lack of transparency on practices, and a demoralized prison detention force,” she said.
Experts say current Sheriff’s Office restraint procedures are outdated and lack specifics.
KERA requested a copy of the office's use of force policy in June. Criminal District Attorney Phil Sorrells appealed to the Texas Attorney General, arguing that the documents should be withheld from the public because they relate to security protocols in the jail.
The Attorney General has not yet ruled on whether the records should be available to the public, however KERA later obtained a copy of the use of force policy and restraint procedures elsewhere.
There is not a discipline-specific requirement for how often policies should be updated, but they should be reviewed regularly, said Miltonette Craig, criminal justice and criminology assistant professor at Sam Houston State University.
"Definitely post-George Floyd's murder, it prompted a lot of agencies to go through their use of force policies, especially any cities that were in Campaign Zero's database when their study got more traction," she said, referencing an analysis on use of force policies in about 100 major cities.
Looking at sections of the restraint procedures, Craig was less surprised by the policy's vagueness.
"You'll frequently see some kind of qualification like 'when feasible', 'when possible', 'unless' because it it defers to the officer based on their experience and training," she said. "But a lot of times that vagueness is to protect against allegations of misconduct or excessive use of force."
Jay Coons, also a criminal justice and criminology assistant professor at Sam Houston State University, said the policy was general but lacking specifics.
"It seems to me the message is, if you're thinking there are going to be some problems, have a supervisor present. You know, take minimal steps," he said. "What's not there is a lot of detail."
In an emailed statement sent a week after KERA reached out for comment, Robbie Hoy, Tarrant County Sheriff's Office Public Information Officer, said the policies were reviewed "routinely" to align with up to date law enforcement standards and the Texas Commission on Jail Standards.
"We don’t agree the policies are vague and outdated," he said in the statement. "Officers are trained to respond to a variety of situations and there is no one size fits all that can be prescribed in a handbook."
When the Sheriff's Office released part of the video showing the events leading to Johnson's death, Waybourn told reporters that Moreno and Garcia violated department policy in their handling of Johnson's death.
In the video, Moreno can be seen kneeling on Johnson's back for more than a minute. Johnson was also allegedly pepper sprayed and can be heard saying "I can't breathe" at least once during the video.
Waybourn told reporters that detention officers are trained to not kneel on someone's back if they're already restrained as Johnson was.
"He was using a technique that, number one, he was not trained to do, and number two, that we do not tolerate, nor do we want done," he said.
But Randy Moore, Garcia's attorney, said he has been shown no specific policies that Garcia violated.
"This is one of the most confusing cases that I've worked on of allegations of violating policy when the policy is lacking, overly broad, and general," he said.
The current procedures say "when a physical altercation occurs, it will be brought to an end as rapidly as possible." It also says a supervisor should be notified any time restraints are used, but does not specify when the supervisor should intervene.
According to the policy, restraint methods include: physically immobilizing, handcuffs, leg irons if resistance continues, and a restraint chair at the direction of the booking supervisor.
In the released video, detention officers can be heard asking for leg irons. Moreno is seen with his knee on Johnson's back while two other officers are also restraining him on the floor while waiting for leg irons.
The officers are told to "Leave him there until we get leg irons."
Coons said one of the standard handcuffing positions is to get the individual in a wrist lock and have a knee on the center of that individual's back.
"What you're doing is you're using your weight to hold the individual down temporarily so you can get the handcuffs on, get this person under control," he said.
The policy says inmates can be physically immobilized by officers and placed in a prone position for better control. However, the policy also says inmates shall not be restrained in a position or manner that would exacerbate any physical infirmities or impair their ability to breathe.
"We train people and have trained for a long time believe it or not for years, is that when you're arresting someone, you're fighting them, it's okay to put a knee in the back until you get them restrained," Waybourn previously told reporters. "Then what you do after that is immediately put them in the recovery position. Immediately."
But Craig said the use of the "prone position" — meaning a person is lying flat with their face downwards — is already a risk.
This is backed by an article published in the Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law which says prone restraints increase the risk of suffocation.
"I definitely think clear-cut guidelines are necessary in many instances," Craig said. "If the policy said, 'do not kneel into someone's back,' then they would know ahead of time, 'maybe we shouldn't do this.'"
She added that if a policy is left open-ended, unsafe measures could be taken during a high-pressure situation when people are not thinking clearly.
Outside of restraints, Johnson was also allegedly pepper sprayed.
The Tarrant County Medical Examiner ruled Johnson's cause of death as mechanical and chemical asphyxia earlier this month.
Following the ruling, Johnson family attorney Daryl Washington said in a statement that it only confirms what they saw in the full video showing his death.
"We are aware that the jailers’ unnecessary use of the pepper spray contributed to Anthony’s death," the family said in the statement. "In an extended video that has not been released to the public, we also saw a continuation of his brutalization after he was murdered. There is no denying any of this, so we are not the least bit surprised and no one else should be."
According to the use of force policy, pepper spray, or O.C. spray, is approved for use only in "incidents that are likely to cause injury to a person or put the unit in a substantial security risk." However, the policy does not specify distance or whether it can be used inside or outside.
Craig said law enforcement policies should be reviewed annually and include input from people beyond the police agency like mental health and medical professionals.
"I think in terms of accountability and restoring legitimacy and public trust, you should be as specific as possible in these situations so that the public understands that you are not trying to circumvent what is allowable or what seems allowable on its face," Craig said.
This story has been updated to include comments from the Tarrant County Sheriff's Office.
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