ATLANTA – It’s not often that a sheriff’s office shares a Facebook post praising inmates but that’s exactly what happened Tuesday in Georgia.
The Gwinnett County Sheriff’s Office shared a story about a deputy who suffered a medical emergency while supervising a jail housing unit and was saved by three inmates. Neither the deputy nor the inmate’s names were released in the post.
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According to the post, the inmates noticed the deputy “appeared to be feeling poorly as he conducted his security procedures in the housing unit.”
The inmates in the unit were all locked in their cells but kept an eye on the deputy as he returned to his desk where they witnessed him lose consciousness, fall to the floor and split his head open, officials said.
The inmates who witnessed the deputy fall started banging on their cell doors which caused a domino effect as all the inmates in the unit started to do the same and shout for the deputy.
“Our deputy later stated that while he did not realize he’d been unconscious, he became aware of what sounded like pounding drums and could hear inmates shouting his name over and over. He immediately thought an inmate needed help and somehow managed to rise to his feet and press the control panel to open cell doors,” the post states.
Three inmates, shown in a photo shared by the sheriff’s office, left their cells after the deputy, who lost consciousness a second time, opened the doors and used the desk phone and the deputy’s radio to call for help.
Officials said help arrived “almost immediately” and that the deputy survived and is recovering at home. The post did not indicate when the incident happened and officials could not be reached for comment.
“These inmates had no obligation whatsoever to render aid to a bleeding, vulnerable deputy, but they didn’t hesitate. Many people have strong opinions about law enforcement officers and criminals, but this incident clearly illustrates the potential goodness found in both,” officials said in the post.
As of this publication, the Facebook post has nearly 150,000 shares, and thousands of comments praising the inmates for their actions.
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