Sheriff Releases Findings on June Jail Death After Public Dispute With County Commissioner

The Tarrant County Sheriff's Office has released new details about the June death of a jail detainee, after the Haltom City Police Department finished an outside investigation into the case. The disclosure follows a public disagreement between the sheriff and a county commissioner over how the death has been characterized.

Mack Greer died June 18, two days after being taken from the Tarrant County Jail to John Peter Smith Hospital. Sheriff Bill Waybourn told KERA News and the Fort Worth Report on Tuesday that the Haltom City police probe concluded Greer died of natural causes tied to a genetic disorder. The Tarrant County Medical Examiner's Office reported last month that the cause of death was complications of moyamoya disease, a condition that restricts blood flow to the brain.

At least seven people have died in custody this year. Asked why his office was releasing information on this case, Waybourn said he wanted to "set the record straight" about earlier remarks by County Commissioner Alisa Simmons. At a June 19 press conference with Greer's parents, Simmons told reporters Greer may have suffered a fatal head injury before reaching the hospital. Waybourn called that "very irresponsible and very incorrect," saying it implied officers had done something wrong.

Simmons is the Democratic candidate for county judge in the Nov. 3 election and has said during her campaign that she would investigate jail deaths if elected. Early voting began Monday. Waybourn rejected the suggestion that the timing was linked to the election, saying the investigation ended last week and that clarifying the record was "the next right thing to do." KERA News contacted Simmons for comment.

The sheriff's office also published a six-minute video with a timeline of Greer's custody, from his booking on May 28 to his death at JPS. It includes footage of Simmons' press conference and a heated exchange between her and Waybourn at a September commissioners court meeting, where he accused her of "putting rhetoric out there that was not true." At her June press conference, Simmons had displayed photographs of Greer on life support that appeared to show bumps and bruises on his head. According to the office's timeline, Greer struck his head on his cell door at 12:13 a.m. on June 13, was medically cleared eight minutes later, and was moved to a single cell for mental health evaluations.

Greer's parents, Lea and Jospeh Hurd, said in a statement that their son sustained head injuries in custody and died as a result. They said they find it "reprehensible" that his death is being politicized and do not want him "used as a political pawn." They also said neither the medical examiner nor the sheriff has contacted them about the cause of death, and that everything they know came from media reports.

The two sides also disagree over a meeting. Waybourn said the parents skipped a meeting he scheduled and did not respond to two attempts to reach them. The parents said the sheriff's office never contacted them and that their own outreach went unanswered. Spokesperson Laurie Passman said a meeting was set for June 29 at 2 p.m., that the parents told the office they were ill, and that the offer to meet still stands.

Court records show Chief Magistrate Emily LaChance signed an order releasing Greer the day before he died, but the order was invalid because it lacked his signature. Waybourn said the office recognized the error and denied that the release was meant to avoid accountability, describing it as a compassionate release, which is granted when a detainee's condition is fatal or incurable.

Simmons has long criticized the jail's management and has previously called on Waybourn to resign over other deaths, which total more than 80 since he took office in 2017. Waybourn said last year he would stop attending or sending staff to briefings she requested, and in February commissioners voted along party lines to bar certain topics, including actively investigated jail deaths, from briefings. Under the Sandra Bland Act, an outside agency must investigate every jail death, and the Texas Commission on Jail Standards must approve the findings. Executive director Ricky Armstrong confirmed to KERA News that the review was completed and found no violations of minimum jail standards.