At least eight prisoners managed to get out of the cell, and started banging on doors and walls, screaming for help, despite still being shackled. “It looked like an act or something, and he died right there”, says inmate Nick Kelton.
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Kelton said he personally feared that he would get in trouble for breaking out.
But no one heard them, so they made a decision to take more drastic measures and broke out of the holding cell.
“They thought we were taking over”, inmate Floyd Smith told local news station WCAA-TV.
Inmates yelled for help, broke out of the cell and banged on doors, bringing other officers upstairs running, something they knew put them in danger. “It could have been an extremely bad situation”.
While the prisoner rots in a cold cell, the guard stands on the other side of the bars with the keys to his or her freedom dangling at the waist. They eventually broke out of the holding cell to attend to the fallen jailer, even though doing so could have had gotten them shot. The prisoners are seen being returned to their cell while CPR is performed on the guard until paramedics arrive.
“He was just talking to them, and he just kind of collapsed”, Captain Mark Arnett told NBC News.
“He stopped breathing. They couldn’t find a pulse on him”, Arnett said.
According to reports they had been joking with the jailer at the prison in Parker County, Texas, in the US. “I was a little anxious because they’re gonna come with their guns drawn on us”, Kelton says.
The guard shall resume work from next week. “If he falls down, I’ll help him”.
The jailer, who doesn’t want to be identified, is healthy now and is returning to work on Monday, Arnett said.
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In an interview, Kelton said the guard was a “good man”.
