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Two people sent to jail at contentious Tarrant County Commissioners Court meeting

A photo of two sheriff's deputies, outfitted with black vests, escort a man with gray hair and a camo cap. He's handcuffed behind his back.
Yfat Yossifor
/
KERA
Tarrant County sheriff's deputies detained CJ Grisham, an attorney, outside a Tarrant County Commissioners Court meeting on Jan. 14, 2025. Grisham said he carried his gun into the building and was wrongfully told he could not, before being let go.

Two people were arrested at Tuesday’s Tarrant County Commissioners Court meeting, which saw multiple confrontations between law enforcement and members of the public.

A crowd of people came to speak about deaths in jail custody. That’s a constant topic of conversation at these meetings, but Tuesday’s meeting — the first of the year — drew more than the usual jail reform activists.

The latest person to die in custody, Mason Yancy, was an open carry advocate, and his friends and the Libertarian Party of Texas used social media to encourage people to speak on his behalf at the meeting.

Darren Yancy, who identified himself as Mason’s brother, took the podium during public comment and called on the sheriff to step down.

“This cannot continue. How many bodies have to stack up before the stench makes you cry?” he said.

Almost 70 people have died in Tarrant County custody since 2017, when Sheriff Bill Waybourn took office. Since 2022, the county has paid out more than $4.3 million in lawsuits over allegations of neglect and abuse behind bars. Two former jailers have been indicted for murder in the asphyxiation death of Anthony Johnson Jr. last year.

Sheriff Bill Waybourn gives an update on the deaths of Mason Yancy and Vernon Ramsey at the Tarrant County jail during commissioners court Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2025, in Fort Worth.
Yfat Yossifor
/
KERA
Sheriff Bill Waybourn gives an update on the deaths of Mason Yancy and Vernon Ramsey at the Tarrant County jail during commissioners court Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2025, in Fort Worth.

Yancy’s cause of death has not yet been made public. Neither has Vernon Ramsey’s, who also died in custody in December.

Democratic County Commissioner Alisa Simmons, a vocal critic of the jail, put Ramsey and Yancy’s deaths on the agenda for the meeting Tuesday.

The meeting was contentious from the start.

Charlie Hermes, a philosophy lecturer at UT Arlington, shouted along with the pledge of allegiance at the beginning of the meeting. He followed the last line — “with liberty and justice for all” — with “including Mason Yancy!”

County Judge Tim O’Hare warned him to keep quiet or be "removed immediately," but Hermes shouted at commissioners again soon after — questioning why they were voting on a resolution to honor the county’s 175th birthday without hearing public comment first.

O’Hare told sheriff’s deputies to remove him. They handcuffed Hermes behind his back while he laid face down in the aisle between seats in the meeting room. They carried him out into the hallway.

A deputy asked Hermes for his name and if he wanted to walk, before the group picked him up again and put him belly-down on the floor of the elevator.

Hermes is now in custody at the Tarrant County Jail, according to the county’s online inmate lookup. He was booked for disrupting a meeting or procession. He was also arrested last year at UTA’s pro-Palestine protests.

Around 11:45 a.m., during the briefing about jail deaths and healthcare in the jail, voices from the hallway leaked in through the courtroom doors. Outside, attorney and Second Amendment advocate CJ Grisham was arguing with a sheriff’s deputy. A crowd of people streamed out of the courtroom to watch and film the argument.

Two arrested at Tarrant County commissioners court, public comments on jail deaths

During that confrontation, sheriff’s deputies cuffed Grisham and brought him to the hallway behind the commissioners courtroom. They slammed another person, Manuel Mata, against a wall and pulled him into an elevator.

Mata was recording the argument with Grisham on his phone, according to a press release from the Tarrant County Sheriff's Office.

"He aggressively demanded the names and badge numbers of the deputies that were present. He continued his disorderly behavior to the point that the court had to be shut down. As a result, he was arrested and charged with Disorderly Conduct and is currently being held in the Tarrant County Jail," the statement said.

Mata often films government meetings and other news events. In 2022, he was arrested in a criminal court during the trial of former Fort Worth police officer Aaron Dean.

“Commissioners Court has an official decorum that individuals must follow while attending Court,” Waybourn said in the press release. "Public comment is welcomed, but it must be limited to the posted agenda, the business of the County and must be made at the appropriate time. We are always respectful to our citizens who attend our meetings, but we do require they follow the rules and return the same respect.”

Grisham did not get taken into custody. KERA interviewed him outside the county administration building in downtown Fort Worth where commissioners meetings are held.

Grisham was carrying a gun, which a sheriff’s deputy told him wasn’t allowed, he said. Grisham maintained that he could carry a gun, due to his status as a “retired federal agent from the Army,” he said.

Grisham had showed up to show support for Yancy. He described himself as “about as right-wing as they come,” but he said Republicans need to stop blindly supporting law enforcement and start holding them accountable.

“Now, I'm a law-and-order guy, but it doesn't make you all-powerful,” he said.

Commissioner Alisa Simmons questions Sheriff Bill Waybourn on the deaths of Mason Yancy and Vernon Ramsey at the Tarrant County jail during commissioners court Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2025, in Fort Worth.
Yfat Yossifor
/
KERA
Commissioner Alisa Simmons questions Sheriff Bill Waybourn on the deaths of Mason Yancy and Vernon Ramsey at the Tarrant County jail during commissioners court Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2025, in Fort Worth.

During his briefing about Ramsey and Yancy’s deaths, Waybourn said both men got medical care while they were in custody. Ramsey died in the hospital. Yancy died in the jail, but he collapsed in front of two nurses, Waybourn said.

“Lifesaving stuff was taking place immediately,” Waybourn said.

He doesn’t expect Yancy's autopsy results for months, he said.

Simmons, who has previously called on Waybourn to resign, pointed out the tragedy and expense of every death.

“I am not out to get anyone except the people who seem to be frickin’ OK with these numbers. We can’t ignore almost 70 deaths. And we owe it to taxpayers to bring transparency. These things cost us,” she said.

People are going to die in custody, and thinking otherwise is “absurd,” Waybourn said.

“Somebody drops dead of heart attack — happens all the time,” he said.

Yancy’s brother, Darren, declined to talk to reporters after the meeting. But he told commissioners his brother was diabetic, and he rejects the sheriff’s description of events.

This story has been updated with a statement from the Tarrant County Sheriff's Office.

Got a tip? Email Miranda Suarez at msuarez@kera.org. You can follow Miranda on X @MirandaRSuarez.

KERA News is made possible through the generosity of our members. If you find this reporting valuable, consider making a tax-deductible gift today. Thank you.

Miranda Suarez is KERA’s Tarrant County accountability reporter. Before coming to North Texas, she was the Lee Ester News Fellow at Wisconsin Public Radio, where she covered statewide news from the capital city of Madison. Miranda is originally from Massachusetts and started her public radio career at WBUR in Boston.