Texas sheriff, husband charged in chokehold death of John Hernandez

A Texas deputy sheriff was indicted alongside her husband for the choking death of a 24-year-old man.

Deputy Chauana Thompson and husband Terry Thompson were charged in the death of John Hernandez after they both turned themselves in on Thursday and were subsequently released on bail on Friday. Both face life in prison for Hernandez’s death.

According to reports, Hernandez was with his wife and children at a Denny’s location and had been drinking when he went outside to urinate near his car. That is when Terry Thompson, who had his own children with him, confronted Hernandez, and the argument that followed escalated into a fight that ended when Thompson took Hernandez in a chokehold and was lying on top of him as bystanders begged Thompson to release Hernandez.

“The man was turning purple,” Denny’s worker Melissa Trammell told the Houston Chronicle. “We begged him to get off the man and he wouldn’t.”

Chauna Thompson, who was off-duty at the time, arrived in a separate car and called the police. She is being charged as an accessory to murder.

As the indictment was announced, over 100 people came to downtown Houston to rally for Hernandez, chanting things like “Justice for John Hernandez,” “Brown lives matter” and “No estan solos,” which is Spanish for “you are not alone,” the Houston Chronicle reported.