WILLIAMSON COUNTY, Texas — In court testimony on Tuesday, key details emerged from inside the investigation into the death of Javier Ambler II, who died in the custody of Williamson County sheriff's deputies in March 2019.
The lead detective, Austin police detective Erin Truho, testified about how she tried – unsuccessfully – to get reality TV show footage showing Ambler's final moments.
Ambler died after Deputies J.J. Johnson and Zach Camden chased him in a pursuit that started because he failed to dim his headlights. The 22-minute chase went from near Round Rock to North Austin.
The case received no public scrutiny until reporting by the KVUE Defenders and Austin American-Statesman in June 2020.
A point of the hearing in state district court on Tuesday was to establish why prosecutors have never given attorneys for Johnson and Camden, who are charged with manslaughter in Ambler's death, footage from the show "Live PD." Attorneys contend the video may be favorable to their clients.
Truho described multiple ways she worked to get the video. She largely relied on the Williamson County Sheriff's Office, which had the relationship with the show, to get it. But she said the sheriff's office appeared to slow-roll her requests.
"After about six or seven days, I didn't have the 'Live PD' footage, and it made me extremely uncomfortable because I knew it was evidence of the offense or the incident itself," Truho said.
Truho said she also FedExed a subpoena to New York to the production company for "Live PD," but that it was a Texas subpoena that the company did not honor.
"Live PD" said it later destroyed the video.
The only footage that does exist from the encounter is from an Austin police officer who arrived as the encounter with Johnson and Camden was concluding.
The two deputies used Tasers on Ambler multiple times as he shouted that he had a heart condition and could not breathe, after chasing him from Williamson County into Travis County in a pursuit that started over a minor traffic violation.
Truho said she ultimately closed her investigation into Ambler's death in the fall of 2019, without ever seeing or getting that video. She determined the deputies broke no laws in Ambler's death.
But she said she was asked by Travis County prosecutors in June 2020 to do more follow-up on the case, just days after KVUE and the Statesman first revealed circumstances of his death.
A Travis County grand jury indicted Johnson and Camden in March.
Meanwhile, former Sheriff Robert Chody and Assistant County Attorney Jason Nassour face evidence tampering charges for what prosecutors say was their role in the destruction of "Live PD" video.
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