Sheriff Joe Arpaio announced that an apparent suicidal inmate was saved from serious injury, or, possibly death, by a quick acting female detention officer in Estrella Jail on the evening of August 1, 2016. Detention Officer Ramirez heroically grabbed hold of the inmate who had leapt over a railing on the top tier of the two level housing unit. Officer Ramirez twice kept the inmate from the 20-foot plunge to a cement floor below by grabbing each arm near the wrist, consecutively, as the inmate fell backwards with full body weight. The dangling and struggling inmate was finally pulled back over the railing by Officer Ramirez.
Immediately prior to this incident, the inmate had made suicidal statements to Officer Ramirez. When her jail cell door was opened to be taken to medical, she made a short run passed Officer Ramirez to the railing and jumped.
“I want to commend Officer Ramirez for risking her life to save this inmate.” Arpaio continues, “In a situation like this, both the officer and the inmate were in serious jeopardy of injury or worse.”
Officer Ramirez was injured during the encounter but has returned to work.