*The eight men sitting behind bars across from a Texas jail guard during what turned out to be a massive heart attack two years ago thought he was joking at first. When they realized he wasn’t, they didn’t start plotting an escape, or try to take advantage of the opportunity,instead, they started shouting and banging the cell?s siding and they were eventually able to break free and catch the attention of others who were able to help, according to the news outlet, WHAS11.
?I just slumped and went out,? Gary Grimm told WHAS11 about what he remembers from the day it happened on June 23, 2016. ?Next thing I remember is looking up at the ceiling in the ER.?
If you’re thinking what I’m thinking, that dude is one lucky son of a so-N-so, the thought has not escaped Mr. Grimm, who retired last December.
?Instead of overtaking me and taking my gun, and killing me or taking a hostage and escaping, they looked at me as a human being,? Grimm told the news outlet, adding that he?s always treated the inmates the way he would want to be treated if he was in their shoes.
?I don?t care if they?re a drug user, hot check writer or child molester. They?re still a human being. I don?t have to like what they did, but it?s not my position to be the judge and jury,? the 52-year-old guard added.
Grimm still has issues with his heart, and will be undergoing open heart surgery to get a Left Ventricle Assistance Device this week, which he will need for at least six months before he hopes to get a transplant.
No one knows why the inmates reacted the way they did. But I believe that it was the human being inside of them.
Grimm admits he gets “emotional,” when he thinks about that day, and says he?s never been able to thank them personally because they were transferred to another facility.
There is one thing he does know for sure.
?If they wished harm for me, all they had to do was sit there and do nothing,? he says.
True that.
