LaMonica Bratton walked up to the podium at the Tarrant County Commissioners Court meeting Tuesday and placed a shiny, cherry-red urn on top.
"I’m Miss Bratton. Yup — Chasity Bonner’s mother,” she said, tapping the top of the urn. “This is Chasity Bonner.”
Bonner died in Tarrant County Jail custody in May, and Bratton says she’s still waiting for answers about her daughter’s death.
The County Medical Examiner’s Office determined Bonner’s cause of death was atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, or hardened arteries. Bonner's family wants the full autopsy report, which the county won’t give them, they told commissioners.
"I'm not going to back down. I'm going to push, and I'm going to push, and I'm going to push 'til we get the information that we need," Bratton told reporters Tuesday.
Bonner's sister, Octavia Reed, asked why the county can't release the autopsy report if her sister's cause of death is already public.
"What is the hold up?" she said.
KERA submitted a public records request for Bonner’s autopsy report in September. The Tarrant County District Attorney’s Office, which handles records requests, asked KERA to withdraw the request, due to the ongoing investigation into Bonner’s death.
All jail deaths get investigated by an outside law enforcement agency, like the Texas Rangers or the Fort Worth Police Department.
When KERA declined to withdraw the request, the DA’s Office asked the Texas Attorney General’s Office for permission to withhold the records from KERA and other news outlets, citing the ongoing investigation.
The office also refused to release the records to Bonner’s family for the same reason, the Star-Telegram reported.
In an email Tuesday, Tarrant County Sheriff’s Office Spokesperson Robbie Hoy said the Sheriff’s Office has completed its portion of the investigation.
“The case has been handed over to the Fort Worth Police Department’s Major Case Unit for their review as the next step in this investigation,” Hoy wrote.
Bonner is one of at least 66 people to have died in Tarrant County custody since 2017, when Sheriff Bill Waybourn took office. That number includes one Tarrant County prisoner who died while incarcerated at a private prison outside Lubbock, which Tarrant County used as an overflow facility until September.
The number does not include a baby named Zenorah, who died after her mother gave birth to her, unattended, in her jail cell in 2020.
Since 2022, the county has racked up $3.55 million in lawsuit payouts over deaths and allegations of abuse and neglect in the jail.
The latest payout comes from the death of Georgia Kay Baldwin, a woman with severe mental illness. She died of a sodium imbalance that usually results from dehydration. The county offered Baldwin’s family $750,000.
Several other lawsuits are pending.
Cassandra Johnson sued Tarrant County this year over the death of her son, Trelynn Wormley. He died of a fentanyl overdose while in custody in 2022. The lawsuit alleges the county fails to prevent drugs from entering its jails.
Johnson was at Commissioners Court Tuesday. As Bratton wept in the hallway outside the meeting, Johnson embraced her and comforted her.
Johnson also spoke before commissioners wearing one of her son’s football jerseys.
“Help me, because I’m going to help you guys,” she said. “I’m not going nowhere.”
Anthony Johnson Jr.’s family sued the county over his death from asphyxiation in April. Detention officers pepper sprayed Johnson, and one knelt on his back. Two now-former jailers face murder charges for Johnson’s death.
James Smith spoke at the meeting and compared that killing to the death of Atatiana Jefferson, who was killed by a police officer in 2019.
Smith was Jefferson’s neighbor. He had been worried about her door being open late at night, and he made the call that brought police to her door.
“When Anthony Johnson died, that was Atatiana dying all over again,” Smith said. “Those types of incidences magnify the trauma that I go through daily. It’s never going to be over for me.”
Anthony Johnson’s sister Janell frequently attends the meetings at Tarrant County Commissioners Court. On Tuesday, she addressed comments from Tarrant County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Laurie Passman, who told the Star-Telegram that Johnson’s family’s attorney is “an opportunist who profits off families dealing with loss."
“Our lawyer, that we hired, is here to help us expose the deadly culture that you guys are supporting,” she said.
She called on the Sheriff’s Office, once again, to release the full video of the altercation that led to her brother’s death.
As she spoke, Johnson’s volume rose, and County Judge Tim O’Hare asked her to lower her voice.
She did not, and as her comments concluded, O’Hare ordered sheriff’s deputies to escort her out. This is the second time Johnson has been told to leave a Commissioners Court meeting.
Got a tip? Email Miranda Suarez at msuarez@kera.org. You can follow Miranda on X @MirandaRSuarez.
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