Working inside a prison facility is no easy task. Many prisoners are violent criminals who do not want to be there and work to find a way out. Some attack deputies while they are being transferred from one wing to another.
On the Way To The Clinic
In Houston, a Harris County sheriff's deputy was taking an inmate into the hospital for a medical exam. Shots were heard from the Ben Taub Hospital bathroom, according to Nurse Manager Gina Shanker, who works on the 5th floor.
She said she heard noises from the restroom by her office. Shanker saif to KTRK, " Pretty much steps from my office when we heard the commotion, and later on, gunshots."
The sounds and noises that Shanker heard in the bathroom were a struggle between inmate Thaddeus Lewis and one of the sheriff's deputies. Somehow Lewis got his hands on the officer's gun and shot him in the left hand, according to authorities.
According to Shanker, one of the hospital technicians knew at that moment that she needed to help the deputy.
Coming to the Officer's Aid
The nurse wished that her identity be kept anonymous.
“She was on her way home towards the end of the clinic. That’s when she heard somebody asking for help – yelling for help – in the men’s restroom.”
Nurse Manager Shanker
The technician bravely ran into the men's bathroom to help. Shanker said, “I could not imagine how brave she was. The thing that came into her mind was, ‘I need to help. I need to help the officer.'”
Shanker has been with the hospital for 33 years and has never seen anything like this happen before.
Hospital in Lockdown
The hospital quickly employed their active shooter protocols, and everyone either found a spot to safely hide or sheltered in place.
The inmate was subdued by hospital employees who assisted the injured deputy in taking Lewis into custody. It took about 20 minutes to get a handle on the situation, and the lockdown was lifted.
The injured deputy has been with the department for 36 years. His wound was cared for at the hospital, and he is recovering at his home. Lewis added aggravated assault to his charges, and the incident is being investigated by the Harris County District Attorney's Office.
Why was a guard armed in a prison?
They were in the hospital
There’s always TWO cops with guns guarding an inmate when they’re outside the prison. I can’t understand why they had only one.
If I read this right, this was at a hospital!
Aggravated assault my butt! That is Attempted Murder of a Law Enforcement Officer, period! He needs to be charged with that or the other Inmates will see this as something that is worth trying. I applaud the bravery of those nurses that came to the Officers aid and helped subdue the Inmate and prevent him from injuring anyone else or escaping custody. Great job ladies!
Your so right, they need to charge this person to the max enough is enough the courts need to prosacute to the max. If you commit murder. 1 appeal and that doesn't take 20 years and then execute them and I believe they should be eecute them in the same manner as the kill someone. GOD put in the Bible Eye for an eye.
If you have never worked inside a prison, You don’t have a clue of what goes on. The inmates have more rights than the Officers and the medical staff. I worked as a Nurse for 7 years in a maximum security prison. It only takes one split second to die as employee or as a inmate. They have nothing to do except share each other’s criminal behavior with each other. I walked the tiers in the maximum security part of the prison one night for 8 hours with a Officer by my side. The cat walk is only 3 feet wide. I passed out medication. At the end of my shift we got a call that a inmate was down and bleeding. The inmate was due to go home in 2 weeks to his wife and new born twins. The inmate was just passing out the laundry back to the inmates. This inmate in his early 20’s bleed out before he got down 2 flights of stairs. The reason he was shanked in jugular vein was because the inmate in the cell wanted to have sex with him and he said I don’t go that way. Do you want to know what he was stabbed in the neck with ? This is how smart these inmates are. He had to paper and rolled it tight and wet it with water and kept working it by twisting it and let it dry and he kept adding to it until he had one sharp long arrow that would reach across the 3 foot cat walk. When the young man told him no he stabbed him in the neck in the blink of an eye. The kid bleed out and was dead before we could even get to him running as fast as we could. There are not even close to enough Officers to the ratio of inmates. There is one Officer on a door that has at least 60 inmates in them . They range from drug charges to murders all in the same barracks. If you were that one Officer how would you feel. I admired everyone of those Brave and outstanding officers. So, unless you have worked inside a prison or transported a inmate.You should have no opinion. Another example: 2 inmates bet a pack of 11 cent Raman noodles on a basketball game, when game was over. The inmate that lost the bet would not give the 11 cent pack of noodles over so the inmate stabbed him and killed him instantly.
She did a great job !