‘I haven’t even buried my son’: Family of Anthony Johnson demands answers in jail death

Read the latest in our coverage of the death of Anthony Johnson Jr. and other issues in Tarrant County jail.

Anthony Johnson Jr.’s family demanded transparency from Tarrant County and its Sheriff’s Office in front of a meeting room packed and spilling over into three overflow spaces Tuesday afternoon.

“You can’t see my pain right now, but I can make sure y’all turn colors and see pain,” Anthony Johnson’s sister Janell Johnson told county commissioners.

Before allowing public comments, the commissioners heard a county employee who does not work for the Sheriff’s Office read statements that had previously been released to the media about Anthony Johnson’s death in custody of the county jail. Sheriff Bill Waybourn, who is regularly in attendance at commissioners court meetings, was not present Tuesday, nor was any representative of his office.

Janell Johnson suggested their absence was because they were scared of her. She said she would speak and not let Waybourn leave or ignore her until he was crying and red in the face, feeling at least some measure of her pain.

The family and other members of the community want answers about how Anthony Johnson died. The 31-year-old Marine veteran, called A.J. by his family, was arrested and jailed in Tarrant County while he was experiencing a mental health crisis.

His death came after his family says they took him to WellBridge Healthcare in Fort Worth, a behavioral health hospital, on April 19 because he was at the beginning of a schizophrenic episode.

WellBridge turned him away because he wasn’t yet violent to himself or others, the family told the Star-Telegram. They were told they should come back when he was.

WellBridge declined Monday to comment on whether Johnson was ever a patient or what the mental health facility’s standards are for admissions, directing questions to the facility’s corporate leadership. A spokesperson for corporate could not be reached for comment.

Later that same day, he was arrested after being found in an intersection in Saginaw, wielding a knife, according to police.

Jacqualyne Johnson, Anthony Johnson’s mother, said when she got word that her son had been arrested, she was relieved.

“My heart was at rest because I was like, ‘OK, he’s not going to harm anyone. He’s safe.’ ”

But two days later, he was dead.

Anthony Johnson died April 21 after an altercation with jailers during which he was pepper-sprayed, according to the sheriff’s office. Daryl Washington, a Dallas attorney representing Johnson’s family, told the Star-Telegram Monday that Johnson had bruises on his body, suggesting the use of force.

“If there was something to justify this, that would be known very early on,” Washington said. “We haven’t heard anything for justification of what happened, what went on. But it’s evident to us that there was more involved in this than pepper spray. More force.”

Family demands answers

Commissioner Alisa Simmons has called for a federal investigation into Johnson’s death and the county jail. The family said they want the same thing.

“They can’t be the ones to prosecute themselves, because they won’t,” Chanell Johnson, one of Anthony Johnson’s sisters, said after addressing the commissioners.

The family is also demanding the release of two videos. The Star-Telegram has requested the footage, too. On Monday, Tarrant County District Attorney Phil Sorrells, who represents the county, sent a letter to Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office seeking to withhold the video.

Washington also wants the county to release the video.

“We are asking and we are demanding that any video footage be released,” Washington said. “They talk about transparency and how they want to be transparent to the public, but in this situation we feel like they’re hiding something that took place.”

Johnson’s case isn’t the first time an inmate has died after being pepper sprayed in the jail. A Star-Telegram investigation in 2022 found that the 2019 death of Robert Miller was likely due to complications from being pepper sprayed multiple times at close range. His death was ruled “natural.”

Before Johnson was booked into the Tarrant County jail, his family said, he sought medical attention when he began noticing the symptoms of a schizophrenic episode coming on.

“You killed my son,” his mother, Jacqualyne Johnson, said to the commissioners.

She said her comments were directed to County Judge Tim O’Hare and all the commissioners except Simmons. Simmons, she said, is the only commissioner she believes has shown any willingness to address problems in the county and in the jail.

“This has been festering in the county for years and you’ve done nothing about it,” Jacqualyne Johnson said. “My son served. He was in the Marine Corps. Whoever approached him in his cell, he defended himself. He was mentally unstable and it didn’t start here. We took him to a facility and they rejected him. … Had they held him for 24 hours, 24 hours, this wouldn’t have happened.”

Knowledge that he had schizophrenia should have been known to police, the jail and anybody else in the justice system in Tarrant County, his sister Janell Johnson said. Anthony Johnson had been in a behavioral health facility before, received his medication for schizophrenia and bipolar disorder from a county program and told officers who were arresting him that he had schizophrenia.

Jacqualyne Johnson said she shouldn’t have to be there addressing the county commissioners.

“I haven’t even buried my son yet,” she said. “The next time I see him will be when I bury him.”

Community speaks out

Anthony Johnson’s family wasn’t alone in demanding answers. Members of the community lined up to address the court.

Many demanded answers. They want the videos made public. They want Waybourn to speak publicly about what happened. They aren’t satisfied with the sheriff’s explanation that he won’t speak about Anthony Johnson’s death because there is an ongoing investigation.

The Star-Telegram has tried multiple times to get more information from the Sheriff’s Office. In an email Monday evening, a spokesperson for the sheriff told the Star-Telegram that speaking about the case could impact the outcome of the investigation.

“For the integrity of the investigation and to make sure that people are held accountable, we need to let a thorough process continue without being hindered by rumors or comments from this office,” the spokesperson wrote. “We cannot and will not comment on any open investigations until they have been completed.”

Simmons said during the session that she personally requested Waybourn be present to answer questions at the meeting. He declined, she said.

She wanted to question him about what happened leading up to Johnson’s death, but said he refused to even send a representative.

Simmons also said she requested to view the videos from the jail in a closed session, where the public and media would not be able to see them, and was told no.

After Anthony Johnson’s family spoke, Simmons followed them out of the chambers. There in the hallway, she embraced them.

“That touched me in a particular way so I had to take a break,” she said when she returned to the chambers.

The family said they won’t rest until they have answers. Chanell Johnson said her brother was murdered. She and her family want justice.

“Everybody is going to understand our pain,” Janell Johnson told reporters after speaking to the commissioners. “Don’t be sorry. Get this changed. This has to change. Nobody should have died.”

There have been more than 60 deaths in the custody of the Tarrant County Jail since Waybourn took office in 2017.