KEY POINTS

  • Three inmates are being regarded as heroes for helping a deputy who suffered a cardiac emergency
  • Inmate Mitchell Smalls saw something was wrong with deputy Warren Hobbs when he made his routine check
  • Hobbs lost consciousness and hit his head on the floor
  • Smalls started screaming to alert other prisoners
  • Two more inmates rushed to the aid of Hobbs and called for help 

Three Gwinnett County Jail inmates were lauded for their valiant efforts to help save the life of a deputy after suffering a cardiac emergency.

One of the inmates, Mitchell Smalls, noticed that Deputy Warren Hobbs was not feeling well when did his routine security procedures in the jail's housing unit. Smalls thought Hobbs was sleeping at first, but then something strange happened to the officer.

“Kinda was laying back in his chair and just started (making noises),” Smalls told Fox 5.

"Help we matter 2" written in a window at the Chicago Cook County Department of Corrections, housing one of largest US jails, amid a coronavirus outbreak among inmates and staff
"Help we matter 2" written in a window at the Chicago Cook County Department of Corrections, housing one of largest US jails, amid a coronavirus outbreak among inmates and staff AFP / KAMIL KRZACZYNSKI

Suddenly, Hobbs fell from his chair and started bleeding from his head.

Smalls acted swiftly when he saw Hobb's dire situation.

“I started hollering and screaming and banging on the door to try to alert everybody to wake up,” said Smalls. The ruckus made it throughout the block and soon, more than 60 inmates were making noise for someone to help Hobbs.

“Although they were locked in their cells, they kept an eye on him as he returned to his seat at the deputy desk, where he lost consciousness and fell onto the concrete floor, splitting his head open, the Gwinnett Sheriff's Office said in a Facebook post.

A spokesperson associated with the Sheriff's Office said it was the noise created by the inmates that helped Hobbs regain consciousness. The representative added that the officer wasn't aware that he was out cold and could only remember “noise that sounded like drums” and people shouting his name.

As soon as he managed to get back on his feet, Hobbs was able to press the control panel to open all doors, thinking that an inmate might be in trouble, said the spokesperson.

Hobb's actions opened the cells of Terry Lovelace and Walter Whitehead. Both inmates then ran downstairs to aid the deputy: Whitehead used a telephone to call for help, while Lovelace used Hobb's radio to do the same, said Fox News.

The three inmates said that what they did to help Hobbs goes beyond a prisoner helping a deputy. Rather, it was just one person helping another whose life was in danger.

“It scared me. I don't care if it's a police officer or whoever it was. I will do whatever I can to save a man. I don't want anyone to die,” Whitehead told Fox 5.

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