It happened at the jail in Hillsborough County, Florida.
The detention deputy was sitting at his desk when the inmate attacked. The deputy is 64 years old; the inmate is 40 years his junior.
Deputy Kenneth Moon had another disadvantage: He was the sole deputy in a pod that houses 62 inmates at Orient Road Jail. The only nearby people who could help him were there because they have been charged with attempted murder, home invasion, drug dealing.
And yet they did.
The first one, Jerry Dieguez Jr., is in jail on an armed home invasion charge. When he saw inmate Douglas Burden put Moon in a chokehold, Dieguez didn’t hesitate, authorities say.
He ran behind the desk and landed a haymaker of a punch on Burden.
Inmates Hoang Vu and Terrell Carswell also provided backup. Vu is charged with attempted murder; Carswell is charged with robbery, marijuana possession, cocaine trafficking and failure to register as a sex offender. He also has a charge of obstructing an officer.
While Dieguez, Vu and Carswell kept Burden off the deputy, another inmate came charging over.
David Schofield, who’s in jail on aggravated assault and battery charges, reached over to the deputy, took his radio and called for help.
The inmates are credited with saving their jailer’s life. “Their past acts aside, you know, you’ve got to applaud them for what they did,” said Col. Jim Previtera of the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office. Previtera said Burden had Moon in a classic chokehold, one used in martial arts.
“It cuts off the blood supply,” he said, “and if it’s applied properly can actually crush the windpipe or the trachea.”
Deputies eventually restrained Burden, 24. He has been in jail since March 14 on driving under the influence and drug trafficking charges, records show. A charge of battery on a law enforcement officer has been added after Monday’s attack.
The sheriff’s office will send letters to the rescuers’ attorneys to be used in court on the inmates’ behalf, Previtera said.
That so many inmates came to Moon’s rescue “speaks volumes for the respect he’s garnered from these men under his control and in his custody,” he said.
Vu’s attorney, Haydee Oropesa, said she hopes the state attorney’s office takes into account Vu’s actions.
Deputy Anthony Brown works in the unit and knows Moon and many of the inmates. He said the inmates’ actions showed there is more to their character than the crimes they are charged with.
“You would think that they would walk away, so somewhere in their hearts, there must be some goodness,” Brown said.
Moon, a 22-year veteran, is home recuperating from his wounds.