During the first meeting of the year at Tarrant County Commissioner’s Court, emotions ran high as Sheriff Bill Waybourn along with others officials gave an update about recent jail deaths. Two people were arrested during the meeting after the sheriff’s office said they disrupted court proceedings. The room was packed and an over flow area was needed as friends and family of inmates who died in the county jail along with activists and community members showed up to hear county officials and to speak during public comments. The sheriff’s office has come under heavy criticism regarding the number of jail deaths in the past year. “My brother was number 9, that’s 9 too many,” said Darren Yancy, the brother of Mason Yancy who died last month during the week of Christmas while in the Tarrant County Jail. “This cannot continue, how many bodies have to stack up before the stench makes you cry.” According to the sheriff, Grapevine Police arrested the 31-year-old after reports he was stumbling in the parking lot near a smoke shop and was latter seen slumped in a car. The sheriff told the court an officer knocked on the window, Yancy woke up and seemed disoriented. He was arrested for a drug charge, and the sheriff’s office said Yancy had ketamine on him. Waybourn said during the arrest, Yancy told officers he had a medical issue and was taken to a hospital, then released to the Grapevine jail. He was then booked into the Tarrant County Jail on Dec. 24. The sheriff described Yancy as a ‘high priority inmate’ for medical reasons and was seeing two nurses when he collapsed on Dec. 27.Waybourn said staff from JPS (John Peter Smith Hospital), the fire department and MedStar worked on Yancy for 40 minutes before a doctor declared him dead. “it’s very unfortunate that he passed, he got the best healthcare that we could deliver at the moment,” said Waybourn. Yancy’s cause of death remains under investigation by the medical examiner, and the sheriff said the Fort Worth Police Department is investigating what happened. Those close to the 31-year-old don’t believe Yancy received the proper care, his brother said Yancy had diabetes. “He was given lifesaving techniques and he died. Those are contradictory statements,” said Darren Yancy during commissioners court in response to the sheriff. A man named Stephen Vasquez, who spoke during public comment, said Mason Yancy was his best friend and that the 31-year-old called him from jail the night before he died. “During that communication from the jail, he was begging me to get him out of jail, saying that he would need to get to the hospital. I had been hoping he had been getting treatment in the jail, Mason did have addiction issues,” said Stephen Vasquez who said he has to live with not bailing Yancy out. Tarrant County Pct. 2 Commissioner Alisa Simmons offered her condolences to Yancy family and others who lost loved ones in the jail. She pledged to “single handedly” attempt to get to the bottom of the jail deaths. During the meeting she questioned Waybourn about Yancy’s death and said she received emails sighting allegations that Yancy was denied medication. In response, Sheriff Waybourn said, “I have absolutely seen no evidence, and I have poured over everything in these things, of what you just said, what my evidence is is that he received medical on a regular basis and that he was seen 9 times in four days.” The sheriff’s office is getting heat from the community as the question not only Yancy’s case, but others who died in 2024. People in the community are asking for a third party investigation. The county hired a new jail chief, Shannon Herklotz from the Dallas County jail, after the former chief resigned last May amid the the number of jail deaths including the suffocation and death of Anthony Johnson Jr. Two jailers were fired. Since 2017, there have been about 70 in custody deaths at the Tarrant County Jail. “We can’t ignore almost 70 deaths, and we owe it to tax payers to bring transparency, these deaths cost us, they cost you tax payer dollars,” said Simmons. She later on said, “Put pressure on us to stop these deaths, I’m going to be optimistic that we will see some progress and changes.” Some people are asking for the sheriff to step down. “You’ve got the number of deaths under various employees that keep occurring and there’s one man at the top, and that’s Bill Waybourn,” expressed Darren Yancy. He said his brother will be laid to rest later the week and pledged he will fight for answers in his brother’s death. “My family will bring a political stick to this council that has never been seen if things are not done right, I promise you that,” said Darren Yancy. Many of the friends who spoke on Tuesday knew Yancy, a supporter of open carry, through his political activism. “He was joyful to be around and very much cared about the rights of of others,” said Faith Bussey, a friend of Yancy. “His right life was violated. Nobody deserves to die in a jail cell by themselves, without their family without even tried or sentenced yet, so there definitely has to be changes to protocols, this can’t be the standard for Texas.” Another friend, Palmer, described his friendship with Yancy over the last few years. “He loved cars, we worked on cars together, I loved to be around him,” said Palmer who met Yancy through political activism. “I had already been following the deaths in the jail following Anthony Johnson Junior’s death and to hear that the next one was a friend of mine, I couldn’t believe it.” Palmer also spoke to commissioners. “He was my friend and I know he would be here speaking for me if this was done to me and I want people to know what happened to him and I want it to not happen to anyone else,” said Palmer.