Inmates come to deputy’s rescue at cemetery
Johnny Moats, the sheriff of Polk County, Ga., received what can be a nightmarish call for a law enforcement officer June 12 from one of his deputies. Officer down. He rushed to Floyd Medical Center in nearby Rome.
“I was kind of shocked, because I didn’t have any details,” Moats said. “So I just jumped in my vehicle, and I headed to the hospital, and I started calling people.”
But Moats’ worst fears weren’t realized — and he has some inmates from the Polk County Jail to thank.
Six inmates were doing maintenance work at a cemetery as part of a work program when a sheriff’s deputy suddenly collapsed. Some might have viewed this as an opportunity to escape. Instead, the inmates made a splitsecond decision to save the deputy’s life.
The deputy, whom the Polk County Sheriff ’s Office declined to name, was briefly unconscious. He was particularly susceptible to the heat because of complications from a brain surgery nearly 10 years ago, the sheriff said. Some of the inmates immediately ran over, ripped the deputy’s shirt open and removed his bulletproof vest to make it easier for emergency workers to perform CPR. One of the inmates dialed 911.
“When that happened, in my opinion, it wasn’t about who is in jail and who wasn’t,” Greg Williams, one of the inmates, told WXIA in Atlanta. “It was about a man going down, and we had to help him.”
The inmates were quite familiar with the deputy, given that they spend most days together on the work program, which allows the inmates to shorten their sentences. The officer had told them that morning that he wasn’t feeling well.
“None of my guys ran,” the deputy told WXIA. “None of them did anything they shouldn’t have done.”
When the deputy woke up, he was in a daze, according to Moats, and was informed by his fellow deputies of the good Samaritan work by the inmates.
“He didn’t really remember much,” Moats said. “He was kind of in and out of it.”
Moats added, “It made me feel really good that they thought enough of one of my officers to help him.”
These inmates are not violent offenders. The charges against them range from probation violations to minor drug crimes.
“They’d have a whole lot to lose,” Moats said, if they tried to make a run for it. “Most of their release dates are in three to six months.”
The deputy has recovered, according to Moats. And for the inmates, there is a reward for the good deed. The sheriff will recommend that their sentences be reduced or that they be released with time served.
“We are very proud of the actions of all six inmates involved,” the sheriff’s office wrote on its Facebook page.