KUSA — A Denver sheriff’s deputy who was injured by an inmate Monday was taken to Denver Health for evaluation, but has since been released, according to department spokesperson Daria Serna.
The inmate will face a first-degree assault on a peace officer charge. Serna said the incident, which was reported around 2:30 p.m., is under review. The name of the inmate and the deputy have not been released as of the time of this writing.
In a tweet, the Denver Sheriff’s Office Fraternal Order of Police -- the union representing deputies that is critical of the mayor and his administration -- alleged that the inmate hit the officer over the head with a plastic milk crate and began to choke him.
"From what I’ve heard is that if they hadn't jumped in, we would have had a dead deputy, a deputy could have died," said Deputy Michael Jackson, the president of FOP Lodge 27. "And that is kind of one of the problems that we’re having. There’s a lot of instances where we’re just barely getting by with luck of not having a serious injury.”
Last week, the sheriff’s department says an inmate punched a deputy in the face. They said that inmate was one of the jail’s "highest level mental health patients."
Out of the jail’s population of around 2,000 inmates, the sheriff’s department says nearly half of them have a mental health alert.
Monday's assault is one of 97 attacks on deputies by inmates this year, and one of six where the deputy was transported to the hospital. That's according to the sheriff's department.
"We have implemented and continue to evaluate initiatives such as trauma informed practices, crisis intervention training, mental health first aid training and direct supervision to name a few," Serna said via a statement.
The FOP has called for changes at Denver jails, like more staffing, because the deputies feel unsafe.
The sheriff's department says they follow the national standard of staffing for the ratio of deputies to inmates.