Leatte Hurd leans on her husband, Joseph Hurd, at a June 19, 2026 news conference the day after their son, Mack Greer, was pronounced brain-dead. Greer was the third Tarrant County Jail inmate to die in four days.
Rachel Royster
rroyster@star-telegram.com
The Tarrant County Medical Examiner’s Office has found that a man who died at the county hospital shortly after being released from jail died from complications of a rare brain disease.
The day after Mack Greer, 46, died at John Peter Smith Hospital, his family and Democrat Commissioner Alisa Simmons spoke at a press conference outside the building. They called for an outside investigation to take place.
Simmons said when she saw him prior to his death, his head was “misshapen” and had bruises in multiple places. Greer’s family said officers tried to convince them he killed himself or had a brain bleed, but they didn’t believe it.
“I don’t have an MD, but I’ve worked with MHMR, and nobody that hits their head hits it in multiple places,” Leatta Hurd, Greer’s mother, said. “They might hit it in one place, but they don’t have it multiple places. So, none of the things they’re trying to tell me to shut me up is adding up.”
The medical examiner’s report says Greer’s manner of death was natural but was caused by moyamoya disease. The rare condition causes the carotid artery inside the skull to narrow or close, depriving the brain of oxygen.
Greer was one of four people in the jail or recently released from the Tarrant County Jail who died in an eleven-day span.
Fort Worth Star-Telegram
Rachel Royster is a news and government reporter for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, specifically focused on Tarrant County. She joined the newsroom after interning at the Austin American-Statesman, the Waco Tribune-Herald and Capital Community News in DC. A Houston native and Baylor grad, Rachel enjoys traveling, reading and being outside. She welcomes any and all news tips to her email.