Three inmates from Georgia have gone viral for saving a security guard’s life after he had suffered a heart attack and collapsed.
The incident occurred at Gwinnett County Jail in Lawrenceville, Georgia, where Deputy Warren Hobbs had been supervising inmates when he suffered a heart attack.
Seeing the deputy struggling to stand up, one of the inmates, Mitchell Smalls, started banging on his cell door and making noise with the help of fellow inmates to bring the security guard back to his senses.
“I started hollering and screaming and banging on the door to try to alert everybody to wake up,” Smalls said in an interview with FOX5.
Just moments before collapsing, thanks to the inmates’ quick-thinking, Hobbs managed to electronically unlock the cell doors of Mitchell Smalls, Walter Whitehead, and Terry Loveless.
As the doors unlocked, the three inmates rushed to the deputy’s aid before calling for help via his radio and phone.
“It scared me. I don’t care if it’s a police officer or whoever it was. I will do whatever I can to save a man. I don’t want anyone to die,” Whitehead expressed.
According to the reports, Deputy Hobbs survived the ordeal and is now in recovery in the comfort of his home. As he allegedly said, he only remembers loud shouting and banging on the doors before he fell and cracked his head.
Following the incident, Gwinnett Sheriff’s Office praised the three inmates and credited them for saving the deputy’s life.
“Kudos to these inmates for coming to the aid of our deputy when he suffered a cardiac emergency in a jail housing unit. We thank them for their timely assistance and the lesson their actions provide. It’s not the uniform that makes a hero. It’s the person wearing it,” they wrote.
They also suggested that despite “strong opinions” that many people have about criminals and law enforcement officers “this incident clearly illustrates the potential goodness found in both.”
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