Thanks to the inmates, a Texas jail officer who suffered a severe heart attack while on duty was able to survive.
Gary Grimm described how he felt on the day of the incident, June 23, 2016, “I just slumped and went out,” he went on: “Next thing I remember is looking up at the ceiling in the ER.”
Grimm, who had spent more than 20 years working in Texas jails and prisons, was keeping an eye on detainees in a basement at the Parker County, Texas, jail when the ordeal happened. Surveillance footage documented the entire incident.
According to WHAS11, the prisoners initially believed he was joking as they sat across from at least eight men who were behind a barred gate.
When Grimm lost consciousness and no longer had a pulse, they started to yell and bash on the cell’s siding. They managed to escape and attract the attention of others who could assist.
“Instead of overtaking me and taking my gun, and killing me or taking a hostage and escaping, they looked at me as a human being,” Grimm told the news outlet. The officer said he always treated the prisoners as he would like to be treated if he were in their position.
He added: “I don’t care if they’re a drug user, hot check writer or child molester. They’re still a human being. I don’t have to like what they did, but it’s not my position to be the judge and jury.”
Grimm said he had never had the chance to thank the inmates in person because they were moved to a different facility, but he admited that he was “emotional” when he considered what they had done for him and how different the outcome might have been.
“If they wished harm for me, all they had to do was sit there and do nothing,” he said.