Organizers and volunteers with Texas Jail Project, ICE Out of Tarrant County, and other local grassroots groups gathered at the County Administration Building downtown this morning to demand the immediate resignation of Sheriff Bill Waybourn.
The event was held to draw attention to the plight of Kelly Masten, who remains in a coma at John Peter Smith Hospital (JPS) after spending just over a week in Tarrant County Jail in April. Masten, who suffers from Lennox-Gastaut Syndrome, which causes near-daily seizures, was arrested on April 11 after her grandmother, Peggie Griggs, called police. Masten, 38, was in an agitated state when she bit Griggs, the grandmother told the Star-Telegram. Authorities told Griggs that her granddaughter would be sent to JPS for mental health treatments at the time of the arrest. Masten’s relatives allege that sheriff’s department jailers neglected her and failed to report her seizures.
