HARRIS COUNTY, Texas — A Harris County grand jury has declined to indict six detention officers in the death of a 32-year-old inmate following an altercation inside the jail.
Alexis Cardenas, 32, had just been released from custody in July 2025 after being arrested on years-old traffic warrants when the incident unfolded, KTRK reports.
Surveillance video released by the Harris County Sheriff’s Office shows officers attempting to escort Cardenas out of the facility, but he refused to leave. A federal lawsuit filed by his family states that Cardenas objected to being released in the middle of the night without a working phone or a plan to get home safely, according to KTRK.
Video of the encounter — which does not include audio — shows officers trying to drag Cardenas out of the building. At one point, he attempted to reenter a secure area of the jail, prompting officers to pull him to the ground.
During the struggle, Cardenas grabbed an officer’s leg, pulling him down, and briefly gained control of a TASER, according to KTRK. The sheriff’s office said an attempt to use the TASER was unsuccessful.
Cardenas later breached a secure area, where video shows another individual pushing him to the ground. An officer is then seen kicking him in the stomach. He continued struggling with officers for about two minutes before becoming motionless. The confrontation lasted more than 12 minutes.
The medical examiner determined Cardenas died of cardiac dysrhythmia associated with the effects of methamphetamine and cocaine during physical restraint. His death was ruled a homicide.
Despite that finding, the grand jury declined to return indictments against the six officers involved, returning a “no bill,” according to the Harris County District Attorney’s Office.
In court filings, attorneys for the county said Cardenas “passed from a drug overdose that adversely affected his heart” and noted the autopsy did not identify head injuries as the cause of death.
The sheriff’s office said five of the officers involved remain on temporary assignments that do not involve inmate contact while an internal investigation continues.
