|
|
| Inmate Takes Officer Hostage At Ariz. Jail |
| By KGUN |
| Published: 05/20/2003 |
|
A Pima County Jail inmate is under tight security after he took a corrections officer hostage and tried to escape. 24-year-old inmate Robert Carrasco Gamez tried to bust out of the Pima County Jail Friday night. He failed- but not before using handcuffs, pepper spray and a toilet brush to kidnap and assault a young corrections officer who's been on the job less than a year. Robert Carrasco Gamez was out of his cell using the phone Friday night when he snuck up behind 18-year-old corrections officer David Keys. 'The guy put his left arm around the corrections officer's neck and held a shank, in this case, a sharpened toilet brush to the officer's neck,' said Jail Bureau Chief Martha Cramer. Cramer says Gamez took Officer Keys to his cell and handcuffed him to a bunk, and took his radio and pepper spray. 'He left the officer there, then went back to the chair where the officer had been, picked up a chair and attempted to put it through a window.' Cramer says there's a security screening behind the window that Gamez would have had to get through. Other corrections officers noticed something was wrong. Despite being sprayed with pepper spray by Gamez, the officers managed to grab hold of him and take him back into custody. Cramer says Keys was in charge of 71 inmates at the time he was attacked. 'The swing shift that this guy is on in the evening shift is so short-handed we do not even staff it fully we are down one below minimum staffing.' The sheriff's department has long claimed that a shortage of corrections officers in an over-crowded jail can lead to incidents like this one. Cramer says the jail is doing the best it can with the staff it has. The attack was not captured on camera because the security camera at the desk where Officer Keys was sitting is positioned to face out- and not on the actual desk. Keys suffered a deep scratch to his neck. Gamez now faces a number of additional charges including kidnapping and aggravated assault. Over the past 6 months, 28 corrections officers have been assaulted by inmates at the Pima County Jail. |
advertise
|
privacy policy
|
add URL
|
about us
|
terms/disclaimer
|
contact us
|
join our team
|
help
Comments:
No comments have been posted for this article.
Login to let us know what you think