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| Corrections officer suffers broken jaw in attack by inmate |
| By KVOA.com |
| Published: 06/20/2005 |
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A Pima County (Ariz.) Jail corrections officer has spent the weekend recovering at home after an attack by a jail inmate. Pima County Sheriff's Deputies say she went to the hospital with a broken jaw after he punched her in the face. The man, 31-year-old James William Griffith, is accused of attacking the officer. Because he reportedly took her keys, it's assumed this was an escape attempt. "She's very well-respected by the inmates and it had to have been, he saw an opportunity," said Lieutenant Richard Gibbons with the Pima County Sheriff's Department. Lt. Gibbons said Griffith's opportunity came in a closet in the infirmary where he attacked her and went for the door, despite multiple layers of security within the jail complex. "Even with our set of keys, he's not going anywhere," Gibbons added. "He's not getting out of the building." Force Commander on Friday, the day of the attack, he came running when he heard his officer took eight punches to the face. And he explained, while Griffith stands almost six feet tall and is a muscular inmate; she's in her mid 50's and only about five feet tall and eighty pounds. "Her face and jaw looked like it was swollen and bruised," Gibbons said. "That's pretty traumatizing when someone's punching you in the face, he was probably hitting her pretty hard," added Deputy Dawn Barkman, a spokeswoman for the Sheriff's Department. We ask if it's standard for female officers to deal with male inmates like this. The Department said, yes, regardless of age or sex, all of their officers are trained to handle tough situations. "They can be the biggest guy in the world or the smallest gal, it doesn't make a difference. They know how to handle themselves," Gibbons said. "Corrections Officers are trained to handle the situations but he caught her off guard," Barkman added. Griffith has been in jail since May 30 on charges including burglary, theft, robbery and trafficking stolen property. |
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