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| Inmates help halt man's suicide attempt |
| By Gannett News Service |
| Published: 05/10/2004 |
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An attempted suicide by a Dutchess County man at the Putnam County jail was thwarted last Wednesday when fellow inmates yelled for officers who, with a jail nurse, rescued the man, Putnam Sheriff Donald Smith said last Thursday. The inmate, a 25-year-old LaGrangeville man, had been held at the jail since November on charges of first-degree robbery, first-degree burglary, second-degree assault and fourth-degree grand larceny in a 2003 home invasion. An alleged accomplice in that crime committed suicide at the jail two weeks after the crime, hanging himself with a shirt in his cell. Smith said, around 12:30 p.m. last Wednesday, the LaGrangeville man tried to hang himself using a torn bed sheet. A fellow inmate who heard strange sounds coming from the cell peered inside and saw the man dangling from the makeshift noose and shouted for help, Smith said. Several other inmates joined in, yelling for corrections officers to save the man. Sgt. Barbara Chambers and Corrections Officers Brian Aisenstat, Thomas DeRoma and Kia Blanchard raced to the cell. Chambers radioed for medical help as she and the officers unlocked the cell door, lifted the inmate's limp body, cut the bed sheet, removed the noose and put him on his bunk. The man began to breathe on his own, although weakly, Smith said. Michele Murname, the nurse, responded with oxygen. The man was then taken by Mahopac Volunteer Ambulance Corps to the Putnam Hospital Center, where doctors examined him and found him to be fine, except for abrasions around his neck. He was returned to the jail later land was placed under constant surveillance until he was transported to a psychiatric hospital in Oneida County for further evaluation, Smith said. Smith, who reported the incident to state corrections officials, praised jail staff members and the inmates for their life-saving actions. |
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