Houston man dies in police struggle after refusing to leave jail, family demands charges against officers

The family of a Texas man who died while in police custody is calling for criminal charges against the deputies involved.

Alexis Jovany Cardenas, age 32, died on July 8 after being restrained by multiple detention officers. During a press conference last Friday, Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez confirmed that one sergeant and six detention officers have been temporarily reassigned pending an investigation into the incident.

Surveillance footage shows Cardenas leaving the jail around 12:50 am before turning back and pointing at his phone. A struggle quickly ensued. He was dragged by one officer who removed his pants, and another fired a taser. At one point, a detention officer was also pulled to the ground during the altercation.

Cardenas then forced his way into a security room where other inmates were waiting to be released. Multiple officers pinned him down for roughly eight minutes before realizing he was unresponsive. CPR was performed, but he later died at the hospital. The official cause and manner of death was not immediately determined.

“I’ve never had a situation where somebody had already exited or was on the verge of literally exiting the door when they wanted to come back in for whatever reason,” Sheriff Ed Gonzalez said. “Nothing was obtained from Mr. Cardenas related to any mental health issues or crisis or anything of note.”

Krish Gundu, co-founder and director of the Texas Jail Project, criticized the officers’ handling of the situation.

“All we saw was escalation from the deputies involved,” said Gundu, according to Click 2 Houston. “What we don’t understand is why the deputies needed to put so much pressure on his neck and his back for an extended period of time.”

Sheriff Gonzalez said the agency has not yet determined if the death will officially be classified as in-custody due to the timing.

“I care deeply for what happens in our facilities and for the individuals’ loss of life. And again, we extend our condolences to the family, because we understand that this is very extremely hard for them. And so we’ll learn from each incident as best we can. And once it’s all complete, we’ll learning even more, because we’ll have a fuller picture,” Sheriff Gonzalez said.

Cardenas’ family released a statement demanding that the deputies be fired and charged with murder.

“We are absolutely devastated by the actions of HCSO leadership today. 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,” the statement read. “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.”

“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,” the statement claimed.

Cardenas had been in jail since July 6 following his arrest on multiple outstanding municipal misdemeanor warrants. The incident is under investigation by the Texas Rangers.