Detention officers were walking 32-year-old Alexis Cardenas out of jail. His family condemned the deputies’ actions.
HOUSTON, Texas — A 17-minute jail surveillance video released by the Harris County Sheriff’s Office on Friday shows what happened leading up to an inmate’s death. His family disagrees with the narrative shared by officials.
The video shows Harris County Jail detention officers holding the door open for 32-year-old Alexis Cardenas on July 8. He was being released after a 30-hour stay on misdemeanor warrants.
But instead of leaving, the father of four refused to leave and began struggling with the two officers.
“A physical altercation ensued as Cardenas attempted to force his way back inside the jail’s secured area,” said the narrator in the video.
Cardenas lost most of his clothes and shoes during the altercation that lasted several minutes. He was tased at least once, but that didn’t appear to faze him.
Multiple officers eventually joined efforts to subdue Caredenas, but he still managed to get into a more secure area where other inmates were being processed for release. They watched the struggle until they were ushered out of the room.
RELATED: He was being released from jail but fought his way back inside. The man was dead a short time later.
At least one of the officers was injured when Cardenas swung his handcuffed right arm and struck him in the face. A different officer then began punching him in the face as they rolled him over face-down.
At one point, there were more than a dozen officers in the room as they finally got Cardenas in handcuffs.
More than 12 minutes after the struggle started, the officer holding the suspect’s head down realized he was unresponsive and called for help.
A body camera shows a detention sergeant performing chest compressions and a nurse was called. Cardenas was then rushed to St. Joseph Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
His family emphatically disputed the HCSO description of events.
Texas Rangers investigating death
“I think the most important thing is for us to have a more complete picture,” Sheriff Ed Gonzalez said during a news conference before releasing the video.
The Texas Rangers and HCSO Internal Affairs Division are investigating and the evidence will eventually be turned over to the DA’s office to be presented to a grand jury.
The medical examiner is working to determine Cardenas’ cause of death.
Meanwhile, the sergeant and six officers have been temporarily reassigned to areas with no direct contact with inmates.
“I know, at a personal level, I care deeply for what happens in our facilities and for the individual’s loss of life,” Gonzalez said.
The sheriff said he’s never seen someone resist while being let out of jail.
Family responds to video
In a previous interview, Cardenas’ cousin said the family believes he was having a mental episode, and that’s why he didn’t want to leave the jail.
Melissa Cardenas responded on Friday after watching the video herself.
“What I witnessed was murder,” Cardenas told KHOU 11. “Alexis never once threw a punch. He waved his hands in the air, meaning he didn’t want any problems, and he ended up dead.”
Friday evening, Cardenas sent a lengthy statement condemning HCSO for the way they handled the incident.
“HCSO never informed us or asked us for permission to release this horrific video of Alexis’ murder at the hands of HCSO staff. We feel that Alexis has been stripped off his dignity even in death. He did not deserve this and his family and young children do not deserve this. We find HCSO’s decision deeply deplorable and unforgivable.
We condemn HCSO’s actions in the strongest terms possible. Especially the actions of deputies who escalated the situation right from the get go instead of de-escalating.
We did not see Alexis fighting. We saw him asking for help followed by the deputies escalating the situation.
In fact, the only person who was trying to de-escalate the situation was Alexis. It seemed like his phone was dead and he was asking for help because he was being released so late at night in violation of state law and local policy that mandates that detainees shall not be released between 9 pm and 6 am. How was he going to call his family? How was he going to get home?
Everything we saw in the video contradicted all the statements we had heard from HCSO until today starting with “Alexis suffered a medical emergency upon release from Harris county,” “he collapsed upon exiting the facility,” “he reached for the taser,” and “CPR and lifesaving attempts were conducted immediately.” All of these statements have proven to be false by the video.
Right from the beginning, every single system that was supposed to ensure his safety, failed him. Starting with the HPD officers who arrested him after he stopped them to ask for help during a mental health crisis.
Then the jail’s medical and mental health screening failed him during intake and during the approximately 30 hours he was incarcerated. The Sheriff has publicly claimed that people brought in in mental health crises with non-violent misdemeanors are diverted from jail. Alexis had the lowest level charge possible, and yet he was not diverted.
It’s clear that Alexis was asking for some sort of help during release, but instead of helping him officers decided to use force and dehumanize him.
We saw an excessive and unnecessary use of prolonged force, especially after leg restraints were put on him. There was no need to apply so much force on his neck and back for so long after he had clearly stopped moving and breathing. You can clearly see the deep marks left on his neck and back from the pressure applied by the two deputies for at least 5 – 7 mins.
We cannot understand why no medical personnel were called immediately to provide acute care. We never saw a nurse or an EMT. Just an overwhelming number of deputies even after he had stopped moving.
Use of body cameras have been sold to the community as a tool for transparency and accountability but the bodycams were not even turned on for most of the incident. And when one was turned on, it was completely useless.
We cannot trust anything that Sheriff Gonzalez said today during the press conference because he blatantly lied about something as simple as having called two family members on the day that Alexis was killed. He left one voicemail on Alexis’ 12 year old daughter’s cellphone. That’s all! If he can prevaricate about something so insignificant, it’s impossible to believe anything else he claims.
We demand the following:
- All the footage including every single bodycam be released to us, not the public, including the audio from the wall camera
- Every single deputy and staff member who was involved in the incident be terminated
- The DA bring charges against the deputies involved including the ranking officer who allowed escalation and did not render life-saving assistance
- Release paperwork from intake screening documentation, health records and jail release
- All the mental health and medical screening and care policies be immediately reviewed and changed to prevent such incidents
- Immediate release of ME’s report and autopsy findings
In conclusion, not only are our hearts broken but we will never be able to trust law enforcement again. Actions like the ones we saw in the video and the ones that led to Alexis’ arrest are the reason why people’s faith in law enforcement has eroded. Every single system and system actor that was supposed to protect him, failed him. And failed his children.”