Video of Prisoners Saving Guard’s Life Goes Viral

A shocking video posted on YouTube shows footage of a prisoner attacking a prison guard — and then being saved by about a dozen other inmates. The video, which made the rounds on popular social sharing website Reddit on Sunday, is actually about five years old. The YouTube version of the video has more than 2.3 million views, and the post was “upvoted” by about 3,100 Reddit users as a favorite, causing it to go viral.

According to CNN, the attack happened in November, 2009.

The video depicts Tampa, Florida-area county Deputy Kenneth Moon alone at a county jail facility when a lone inmate ran at him and began to attack him. The deputy, a 64-year-old man, was reportedly well-respected by other inmates and his attacker, 24-year-old Douglas Burden, had bragged that he was going to make the attack. Burden was locked up at the time for drug charges.

While Burden had the guard in a chokehold, about a dozen other inmates ran in to defend the older man. They pulled Burden off of Deputy Moon and punched the inmate in the head.

The video shows one inmate putting out his hand to help Deputy Moon up, while another took the guard’s radio to call for backup.

The commanding officer of the jail, Col. James Previtera, later told reporters that he believed the inmates were responsible for saving the deputy’s life. Moon was not seriously hurt, and the prisoner was transferred to special confinement after the attack.

“The response of the inmates in this case, I think, speaks volumes as to the fact that we treat these men and women… in our facilities with a lot of respect,” Previtera said to CNN.

A few days after the attack, four prisoners were hailed as “heroes” for their role in saving Moon, according to the Daily Mail.

First, Jerry Dieguez Jr, who was in jail on charges of armed home invasion, rushed to the prison guard’s rescue. He punched Burden to make him loosen his grip on the guard, and was then joined by David Schofield, who was charged with aggravated assault and battery. Schofield is the one who used the deputy’s radio to call for help. Inmate Hoang Vu, who was facing attempted murder charges, and Terrell Carswell, who was facing charges of robbery, failure to register as a sex offender, cocaine trafficking, and marijuana possession, also came to help.

The first four inmates were able to overpower Burden, and the prisoners managed to save the guard.