Javier Ambler death trial: Jury watches body cam footage

WILLIAMSON COUNTY, Texas - Unseen body camera footage was shown to the jury on day four of two former Williamson County deputies’ manslaughter trial. This included interviews with both defendants moments after the 2019 in custody death of Javier Ambler.

"I wasn't trying to hurt that f******* guy," James Johnson said on the body cam footage.

Former Williamson County Deputy James Johnson’s words echoed through the courtroom Thursday morning during his and Former Deputy Zachary Camden’s manslaughter trial.

It came from body cam footage from Assistant Chief James Johnson of WCSO that was recorded moments after the 2019 in custody death of Javier Ambler:

Assistant Chief David was brought in as a witness to break down his body cam footage taken from the night of the incident, including interviews he did with both defendants.

"He's not, he’s not doing what I’m telling him to do: Get on the ground, stop, stop, stop," Johnson said on the footage.

"I ran in, planted my knee on the back of his neck. He was still being non-compliant," said Camden in the footage.

Johnson told Assistant Chief David he heard Ambler saying he was struggling. Previously shown body cam footage by an Austin police officer on scene shows Ambler telling officers he had congestive heart failure and could not breathe multiple times.

"He was talking to me like, 'I can't, I'm not going to, I can't breathe,' something like that," said Johnson in the footage. 

Both Johnson and Camden admitted to tasing Ambler in hopes of gaining compliance.

"I was on his neck. I was trying to get his right hand. He kept trying to pull. I gave up. He's a big dude. I couldn’t get his hand. I didn't know what was underneath him so, again, I deployed my taser," said Camden in the footage.

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Camden says they did not realize Ambler's condition until he was in cuffs. That is when they began CPR. 

"Third handcuff went on. We were grabbing his left hand. At that point, that's when I noticed that he kind of stopped, and then we rolled him notice, and he was unconscious," said Camden in the footage.

In the body cam footage, Assistant Chief David could be heard trying to comfort both former deputies following the incident. 

"You never know how these things are going to turn out. They're just like anything else. What I've seen from that point and the information that I gathered, I mean it was an unfortunate incident that occurred, but I didn't see, I didn't see where we are today," Assistant Chief David told the jury. 

Two ‘Live PD’ cameramen also took the witness stand on Thursday: Jeffrey Moriarty and Colin Mika.

Moriarty was riding with Camden the night of the incident. Mika was riding with Johnson.

Both testified about their positions the night of the incident, including talking about what they filmed. Mika mentioned he was the one to mail the ‘Live PD’ out, but said he did not know what happened to the footage after that.

Moriarty told the jury that he is just a camera man and not a cop, but he does believe the deputies' actions were up to par with what any other deputy would have done in that situation.

Judge Karen Sage ended the trial early because the state ran out of witnesses. She did say the trial was on schedule. 

She also told the jury the state failed to turn over Ambler’s arrest warrant to the court prior to the start of the trial. 

The trial picks up on Friday morning.