TRAVIS COUNTY, Texas — A Travis County grand jury on Aug. 11, 2021, cleared Travis County Correctional Officer Alexander Antillon and Travis County Sheriff's Officer registered nurse Anthony Cardinal in a 2019 case involving an in-custody death.
Corrections officers said they found 28-year-old Tyler Grist unresponsive in his cell on Aug. 31, 2019. He was taken to a clinic and then Dell Seton Medical Center in Austin. Grist was in the ICU for several days before he succumbed to his injuries.
Grist was in jail for an arson charge and was later charged for assaulting another inmate.
Officials said Grist was housed in a single-occupancy, high-risk jail cell when he intentionally fell backward, causing his head to strike an elevated platform in the cell. Reportedly, he repeated this action two more times, striking his head twice more. After the last fall, officials said he continued to move parts of his body and was breathing.
Around this time, corrections officers and an on-duty nurse conducted regularly scheduled periodic monitoring but were unaware of his actions causing him to fall. They observed his body movements and breathing, transferred him to another unit and then discovered that he needed medical attention and called EMS services.
Grist was transported to the hospital but was pronounced dead on Sept. 6, 2019. In October of that year, the Travis County Examiner's Officer ruled his death as a suicide, with the cause being blunt head trauma.
“The District Attorney’s Office takes the work of presenting all facts and evidence to a grand jury very seriously,” said District Attorney Jose Garza. “In this case, an independent group of members of the Travis County community, heard the evidence and law and decided that the conduct of Officer Antillon and Nurse Cardinal was lawful.”
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