WAXAHACHIE – An Ellis County detention officer died Monday after an inmate assaulted him, the sheriff said Tuesday.
Officer Isaiah Bias, 28, started working for the Ellis County Sheriff’s Office out of high school. He left for a couple of years to study at Navarro College but then returned, according to Sheriff Brad Norman. As a teenager Bias participated in the Ellis County Sheriff’s Explorers program, which provides training and leadership skills to teens who are interested in a career in law enforcement.
“He loved what he did. He loved the people he worked with and everybody around him loved him,” said Norman.
Ellis County Sheriff’s Office
Norman identified 45-year-old Arron Semeion Thompson as the inmate who attacked Bias at 3:45 p.m. Monday.
Thompson was in a segregated area where he spent 23 hours per day alone in his cell. The attack happened as Thompson was being transferred back into his cell after his one hour out.
According to the affidavit, Bias was escorting Thompson back to his cell on the second floor. Thompson followed Bias to the second floor and hit him in the head with his hand, the report states, choked him from behind and repeatedly struck him. Thompson then returned to the first floor and sat down at a table.
Additional officers then arrived and placed Thompson in handcuffs. Bias was given immediate medical attention and taken to the hospital where he was pronounced dead.
“Most of the time, law enforcement officers and detention officers deal with good folks having a bad day. Occasionally we deal with bad folks. I can honestly say that my staff over the last day has dealt with pure evil,” Norman said.
Thompson, with a criminal record dating back to 2002, was in the Ellis County Detention Center on multiple charges of assaulting a public servant and evading arrest.
Norman said he believes Thompson intentionally killed Bias and hopes the DA’s office seeks the death penalty.
“Because it was a heinous, horrific, purposeful murder that was senseless and not needed,” said Norman.
Thompson has since been charged with capital murder and is currently being held in another detention facility on a $2 million bond. The Texas Rangers are investigating.
The Ellis County Sheriff’s office said there are 133 jailers and 137 deputies who currently work at the jail compared to 558 inmates in the jail.