New Details Of In-Custody WilCo Death Further Ignite Anger

WILLIAMSON COUNTY, TX — The Williamson County Sheriff's Office is under fire for the death of a black man who died in custody in 2019 while pleading with deputies he was unable to breathe — a full year before the Minneapolis death of George Floyd whose death reignited a movement against police abuse.

Details of the March 2019 death have only come into light this week after the Austin American-Statesman and its news partner KVUE obtained footage of the arrest after months of formal requests. Graphic police bodycam video was released on Monday showing the last moments of Javier Ambler, a 40-year-old father of two, as he pleaded with deputies.

The case also has reignited controversy over the Williamson County Sheriff's Office former ties with the cable reality show "Live PD" that had its cameras rolling in capturing the action. The show's producers trained their cameras on the action as police pursued Ambler on March 28, 2019, after he failed to dim the headlights of his SUV as he drove home from a friendly poker game, as the Statesman and KVUE reported.

Ambler initially failed to pull over, sparking a 22-minute pursuit that ended when Ambler's Honda Pilot crashed north of downtown Austin, according to the report. Records obtained by KVUE and the Statesman show that deputies employed Taser stun guns on Ambler at least three times, even as he told them multiple times of his heart condition and inability to breathe.

Ambler would die about an hour later. Details surrounding his death have only recently come to light after the Williamson County Sheriff’s Office tried to shield information from release since receiving its first request in February, according to the dual media reports.

Ambler’s death was ruled as a "justifiable homicide,” according to the reports. Medical examiners listed his cause of death as congestive heart failure and hypertensive cardiovascular disease associated with morbid obesity “in combination with forcible restraint,” according to an in-custody report filed with the Texas Attorney General's office, as the Statesman and KVUE reported. Moreover, the autopsy report indicates no drugs or alcohol were found in Amblers system at the time of his death, according to the report.

Related stories:

• WilCo Sheriff Refuses To Resign After In-Custody Death
• WilCo Commissioners End 'Live PD' Contract
• WilCo Commissioners To Discuss 'Live PD' Resurgence
  
• Final 'Live PD' Show Featuring WilCo Cops Airs Aug. 24
  
• WilCo Commissioners Sue Chody Over 'LivePD' Contract
  
• WilCo Sheriff Chody Finds Himself Under Unwelcome Spotlight

Williamson County Sheriff Robert Chody made no mention of the death the day after. Instead, he took to Twitter to express glee of having his deputies featured on the Live PD show again. "Guess whose [sic] back?!!!" he wrote.

In a statement sent to Patch via email after a response to questions, a spokesperson for the A&E Network that produces Live PD stressed the episode involving Ambler never aired as a result of the fatality.

“Video of the tragic death of Javier Ambler was captured by body cams worn on the officers involved as well by the producers of Live PD who were riding with certain officers involved," spokesperson Dan Silberman wrote to Patch. "The incident did not occur while Live PD was on the air but rather during the show’s hiatus, when producers are regularly out in the field gathering footage. The footage never aired on Live PD per A&E’s standards and practices because it involved a fatality."

He refuted reports that investigators reached out to the show's producers for footage of the incident: "Immediately after the incident, the Austin Police Department conducted an investigation using the body cam footage they had from the officers. Contrary to many incorrect reports, neither A&E nor the producers of Live PD were asked for the footage or an interview by investigators from law enforcement or the District Attorney’s office.

Silberman added the footage of the fatal incident no longer exists, suggesting it was destroyed once an investigation into Ambler's death was concluded: "As is the case with all footage taken by Live PD producers, we no longer retained the un-aired footage after learning that the investigation had concluded. As with all calls we follow, we are not there to be an arm of the police or law enforcement but rather to chronicle what they do and air some of that footage and our policies were in place to avoid having footage used by law enforcement against private citizens.”

Ambler's pleas expressing an inability to breathe while in custody have brought a national outrage over police brutality directly to Williamson County. The glare of the Live PD cameras at the time yields greater focus into past concerns by commissioners and residents that deputies participating in the show played to the cameras with overly aggressive posturing for the benefit of the televised drama. Williamson County commissioners recently forced the sheriff to cut ties with the production, suing him after he reignited the relationship without their knowledge after they previously had forbidden participation.

Williamson County Sheriff Robert Chody has declined to publicly reveal details of the investigation. But on Tuesday, he issued a statement refuting claims by the Travis County District Attorney's Office that his office has been uncooperative with the ensuing probe.

"While we cannot comment on the Ambler incident due to the ongoing investigation by the Travis County DA, we can correct misleading statements made by the Travis County DA," Chody wrote in a prepared statement. "The Williamson County Sheriff's Department remains ready and willing to participate in the investigation being conducted by the Travis County DA's office. However, the Travis County DA has not contacted us for any reason related to this investigation."

The Travis County district attorney, Margaret Moore, sees it differently as she wrote on Twitter on Monday: "Over the last year, the District Attorney’s Office has been fighting with Williamson County Sheriff’s Office to have Live PD video footage related to Javier Ambler’s death released," she wrote. "What should have been a routine traffic stop, ended with Javier’s death."

Chody disputed the assertion. "Any attempt to say we have slowed or otherwise impeded the investigation is absolutely false," he wrote in his statement. We participated fully in the investigation launched by the Austin Police Department, the results of which have been forwarded to the Travis County DA."

But he acknowledged an inability to secure the Live PD footage as evidence — one of the main concerns commissioners had before cutting Chody's ties with the reality show. Producers for the show retain footage as proprietary material despite its potential use as evidence in police cases. "In terms of any Live PD footage, as a department, we do not control the footage," Chody acknowledged in his statement. "However, I join the Travis County DA in requesting that Live PD make any existing footage available for review by Travis County prosecutors."

While the war of words continues between the sheriff and DA, the case has garnered national attention — picked up by CNN during its Monday broadcast. Closer to home, a petition has surfaced calling for justice for Ambler. "Ambler's pleas for mercy and warning of his severe heart condition were ignored, and he soon passed away on a neighborhood street," the petition reads. "Now, on June 8, 2020 — a little more than 14 months after Javier's passing — footage of his untimely death (that the Williamson County Sheriffs Office withheld) has been released, granting his family closure but not justice."

Organizers of the petition urge others to sign the petition: "Javier was a loving father of two with a passion for life. We cannot stand idly by as systemic racism and profiling rob the lives of innocent black men in America. We demand justice for Javier Ambler."

At last check, the petition has secured more than 2,000 signatures.