Javier Ambler: Texas sheriff smirks in mugshot for evidence tampering charge after Black father fatally tased
A Texas sheriff was indicted by a grand jury on Monday, September 28, on a felony evidence-tampering charge with regards to the death of a Black man in police custody, which was caught on video last year. Sheriff Robert Chody is now facing a third-degree charge that is punishable by up to 10 years in prison, according to Williamson County records.
The Black man, identified as a 40-year-old postal worker Javier Ambler II of Killeen, Texas, died in police custody when deputies used a taser on him as he screamed "I can't breathe" during the filming of police TV show 'Live PD'. The incident had raised concerns that police officers were prioritizing reality show fame over citizens' lives.
Chody was booked into his jail on a $10,000 bond on Monday. A booking photo of the sheriff released by the prison, however, showed him grinning dressed in a suit-and-tie, posing in front of the Williamson County Sheriff's emblem. The sheriff is accused of illegally destroying raw video and audio recordings made by the A&E Network's real-time police TV show 'Live PD' at the time of Ambler's arrest in March 2019. Footage showing Ambler's death was never aired. General counsel for the county, Jason Nassor, has also been indicted on the same charge as Chody, according to the Daily Mail.
Court documents stated that Chody destroyed the recordings "with the intent to impair their availability as evidence in the investigation." The sheriff was arrested nearly three months after county prosecutors announced an investigation "involving possible tampering with evidence" in Ambler's case.
This video contains graphic violence.
Ambler was driving home after playing poker with friends on March 28, 2019, when he failed to dim headlights of his car to oncoming traffic. The father-of-two was then pursued by Williamson County Sheriff's deputy JJ Johnson over the minor traffic violation for nearly thirty minutes. At the end of the pursuit, Ambler pleaded with the deputies telling them he had congestive heart failure and could not breathe while the cameras from A&E Network's reality show 'Live PD' continued rolling.
The deputies asked Ambler to stop resisting but he responded saying: "I'm not resisting." Ambler, in the bodycam footage, was heard gasping and saying "save me" seconds before an officer tased him. The 40-year-old was tased at least four times during this period. The postal office worker eventually became unresponsive as three officers pinned him to the ground while one searched for a pulse and then proceed to give him CPR.
An autopsy later revealed that Ambler died by homicide. The reason was congestive heart failure and hypertensive cardiovascular disease linked with morbid obesity "in combination with forcible restraint." Investigators probing Ambler's case had accused the producers of 'Live PD' and Williamson County Sheriff Robert Chody of attempting to undermine efforts to obtain evidence. The final disturbing moments of Ambler's death were shown months later after The Statesman and KVUE recently acquired the bodycam footage.
A death-in-custody report filed with the Texas attorney general's office stated that Ambler was not violent with deputies, he did not attempt to escape, and neither did he threaten them or attempted to obtain their weapon during the incident. A&E Network, after widespread protests against police brutality this year, canceled 'Live PD'.