Ten more Tarrant County jailers were added Monday to a lawsuit filed by the family of Anthony Johnson Jr., who died in county jail custody in April — marking a total of 15 people now named in the wrongful death suit.
The suit initially named former detention officer Rafael Moreno and his supervisor Lt. Joel Garcia along with up to 10 unnamed detention officers listed as "John Doe" as responsible for Johnson's April 21 death.
Now court records filed Monday list a total of 15 people, alleging each failed to intervene as Moreno restrained Johnson.
Detention officers Tyrone Caldwell, Royce Moody, Kimberly Nobles, Phylicia Hollie, Angel Sanchez, Jevon Stubbs, Steven Gil, Kyle Longo, David Pitcock, and Robert Russ are now named in the suit.
Attorney information for the 10 newly added detention officers was not available Monday. KERA News reached out to the Tarrant County Sheriff's Office to confirm if the officers were still employed, and will update this story with any response.
If Tarrant County did seek legal counsel for all 10 officers, that expense would have to be approved by county commissioners at a future meeting.
Johnson family attorney Daryl Washington told KERA he expects the county would have to pay for separate legal counsel for each of the detention officers.
"We plan to take this case to trial," Washington said. "I mean unless something just crazy happens."
Deaths and allegations of mistreatment in the Tarrant County Jail have cost the county millions of dollars in settlements since 2022. The latest was a $750,000 settlement for the family of a woman who died of suspected dehydration in county jail custody in 2021.
Moreno and Garcia were initially the only officers named in connection with Johnson's death by the sheriff's office following the release of five minutes of video showing part of the events leading up to the death. Both were fired, later reinstated and placed on administrative leave, and then fired again.
In August, detention officers JaQuavious Simmons, Elijah Marez and Johnathan Nymoen were named in the suit.
The lawsuit accuses the detention officers of, "inhumane treatment, lack of compassion, egregious and unconscionable actions, inexcusable neglect and cowardice acts," for their alleged roles in Johnson's death.
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