Harris County fires 11 jailers accused of beating a detainee during the Texas winter storm that left millions in the dark

• The Harris County Sheriff fired 11 employees Friday over an incident during the Texas winter storm.
• The jailers are accused of beating a detainee found unresponsive in his cell; he eventually died.
• Six other staffers were also placed on unpaid leave.

The Harris County Sheriff's Office on Friday fired 11 detention staffers who are accused of beating a detainee multiple times, delaying his medical care, and violating several policies during the Texas freeze earlier this year.

Jaquaree Simmons, 23, was found unresponsive in custody at noon on February 17. According to a Sheriff's Office press release, investigators found no evidence jailers had completed required rounds since the morning of February 15.

"The events preceding Simmons' death occurred out of view of the 1,490 security cameras currently operating inside the 1.4-million-square-foot jail complex," a sheriff's office press release posted by Marshall Project reporter Keri Blakinger said.

The medical examiner's office ruled Simmons' death a homicide earlier this year.

According to the sheriff's office press release, Simmons was booked into the jail on February 10 for being a felon in possession of a firearm. Six days later, Simmons reportedly used his clothes to clog the toilet and flood his cell, at which point employees used force against him but did not document doing so, which is against policy.

After cleaning up the space, the officers returned Simmons to his cell, but with no clothing - another violation of policy.

That evening, an officer noted Simmons threw his tray of food and "charged" him, prompting the officer to strike Simmons in the face with his fist, the release said.

Detention officers then called for help in moving Simmons from his cell to be medically evaluated. During the process, Simmons "suffered multiple blows to his head," none of which were documented by any of the employees present, according to officials.

Medical staff were unable to conduct an X-ray on Simmons at that time due to power outages resulting from the deadly winter storm. Medical staff ordered an X-ray to be performed on Simmons as soon as possible, but jail staff never took him back to the clinic even after the lights came back on, the release said.

He was found unresponsive on February 17 and later declared dead at a hospital.

In addition to the 11 employees who were fired, six others were placed on unpaid leave.

Harris County officials said the 17 people who were punished for their alleged role in Simmons's death committed a number of serious policy violations.

"We have a duty to protect those in our care, and that didn't happen that day," Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez said during a Friday press conference. "It's not reflective of the remainder of our team members."