By: FOX 4 Staff
TARRANT COUNTY, Texas – Two Tarrant County corrections officers who were fired after the death of inmate have been reinstated. Last week, Tarrant County Sheriff Bill Waybourn fired Rafael Moreno and Joel Garcia after the death of inmate Anthony Johnson Jr on April 21.
Johnson died after a fight with corrections officers during a search for contraband.
Sheriff Waybourn announced the firings on the same day video of the incident was made public.
Footage showed Moreno kneeling on Johnson’s back after he was already in restraints.
“If you’re arresting someone, you’re fighting them. It’s okay to put a knee in a back until you get them restrained,” Waybourn said at a news conference announcing the firing’s last week. “What you do after that is immediately put them in the recovery position. Immediately. That didn’t happen.”
Lieutenant Joe Garcia, Moreno’s supervisor, was in charge during the incident and took cell phone video.
The sheriff also fired him. “Lt. Garcia was terminated on the basis that not only was he there, he was in charge, and he was allowing this to occur,” Waybourn said last week. “He also did not respond to the urgency of the situation. He was not urgent in carrying out his duties, and that had a detrimental effect.”
On Thursday, Sheriff Waybourn announced that he was advised to withdraw the two jailers after a conversation with the Tarrant County District Attorney’s Office.
“The requirement to withdraw those terminations is due to Civil Service Administration guidelines. In my opinion, the IAD investigation had reached a point that would allow for termination. The Tarrant County District Attorney’s Office advised that additional steps must be taken in order to appropriately complete the process under the rules of Civil Service. Though I do not agree, under an abundance of caution, I withdrew the terminations in order to assure that the process was completed and all evidence was gathered for this administrative purpose,” said Waybourn in a statement.
Both employees will remain on administrative leave while the investigation continues, according to the sheriff.
“This is a troubling development, but I want to assure the citizens of Tarrant County that this does not change my commitment to getting justice in this case,” Waybourn wrote.
Johnson cause of death has not been determined by the Tarrant County Medical Examiner.
County Commissioner Alisa Simmons released a statement on Thursday saying both Moreno and Garcia will retain their employment with the county.
“It appears that our sheriff failed to follow long-established civil service rules related to dismissing employees,” Simmons said in part.
“This failure is consistent with a pattern of Sheriff Bill Waybourn’s inability to administer and follow standard operating procedures of his own Sheriff’s Office along with basic processes and procedures outlined in civil service rules,” wrote Simmons. “As a result of the Sheriff’s actions, the county now has to continue employing – and paying – two individuals who really should be facing criminal charges from the missing-in-action Tarrant County DA, and not still drawing a paycheck from county taxpayers.”
