BELINGTON, WV (LOOTPRESS) – A Randolph County sheriff’s deputy assisted in saving the life of an inmate at Tygart Valley Regional Jail on Jan. 16 after she attempted to hang herself with a telephone cord, according to an incident report from the sheriff’s office.
Deputy A.M. Channell was in the jail’s booking area around 4:01 p.m., waiting for correctional officers to process a male suspect he had arrested on a warrant out of Barbour County.
While waiting, a jail employee in the control room shouted that an inmate, identified as Hernandez, was attempting to hang herself with the metal cord of a telephone.
Correctional officers rushed into Hernandez’s cell and called for assistance.
Deputy Channell activated his body-worn camera and entered the cell, where he saw officers struggling to support Hernandez.
She had wrapped the phone’s metal cord and receiver around her neck and tied it into a knot.
Deputy Channell and a Taylor County deputy worked to free Hernandez, eventually loosening the receiver and untying the cord.
Once freed, they laid her on the floor as additional officers and medical personnel arrived to provide aid.
Hernandez’s current condition has not been released.
