11 Texas Sheriff Workers Fired, 6 Suspended After Inmate Death

CBS Dallas/Fort Worth

May 29, 2021

Eleven employees with a Texas sheriff’s office have been fired and six others suspended following the February death of an inmate who was hit multiple times in the head by detention officers, authorities announced Friday.

Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez said medical examiners had ruled Jaquaree Simmons’s death a homicide from injuries to his head. A three-month internal affairs investigation concluded Simmons had two fights with detention officers on Feb. 16 when the jail had lost power and water pressure during the state’s deadly winter storm.

Simmons, 23, was evaluated by a doctor at a jail clinic and had a cut to his left eyebrow and upper lip but reported no pain. He was taken back to his cell, but officers failed to bring him back to the clinic for follow-up X-rays, according to Major Thomas Diaz, who led the internal affairs investigation.

CBS Local Digital Media personalizes the global reach of CBS-owned and operated television and radio stations with a local perspective.