FORT WORTH — A Tarrant County grand jury indicted two Arlington jailers Monday for the death of an inmate in March.
Charges of criminally negligent homicide were filed against detention officer Pedro Medina and former lead detention officer Stephen Schmidt. Both surrendered and were released on $5,000 bond each.
According to affidavits, the men were charged with two counts of negligence homicide "by physically restraining Jonathan Paul in a position that interfered with [his] breathing" and "excessively spraying [him] with [pepper spray]."
They were both charged with a third count for failing to provide Paul with immediate medical help.
After the indictments, police released 27 hours of jail and dash cam video related to the arrest and death of 42-year-old Jonathan Paul.
Arlington police arrested Paul on March 9 after a disturbance call at his apartment. Neighbors said he was screaming and breaking windows. He also had outstanding warrants.
Video from the patrol car shows Paul thrashing in the backseat, weeping, and speaking rapid-fire, profanity-filled nonsense.
Surveillance footage from the jail shows him pacing and howling. He washes with toilet water, then jams the toilet with jail clothes, flooding the cell. He is seen pacing, banging on the walls, and pretending to shoot a pistol.
It takes several officers to subdue Paul on two occasions. They hold him down and scream at the to stop resisting. When they leave him the second time, Paul lies naked and motionless on the floor of his single cell.
Several minutes later, jailers find him unresponsive and call paramedics.
Doctors removed Jonathan Paul from life support four days later. The medical examiner later ruled that physical restraint and use of pepper spray were factors in his death, as was acute psychosis. Paul had marijuana in his system, but no other drugs.
Stephen Schmidt retired from the Arlington Police Department in October. Pedro Medina has been placed on administrative leave.
"This has been a difficult case for our community," Arlington police Chief Will Johnson said in a statement. "We promised a thorough and vigorous investigation into this matter. Now that the Grand Jury proceeding has concluded, we are eager to finalize the administrative case and present the findings of the investigation to the family and our community."
Jonathan Paul's family began demanding answers while he was still alive in the hospital, not knowing whether he would survive.
