A Denver Sheriff Department deputy is being lauded as a hero after saving the life of a suicidal inmate at the Downtown Detention Center.
About two weeks ago, Deputy Greg Liggins, 31, saw an inmate standing on the second floor of a cell pod railing with a sheet tied around his neck. As Liggins ran toward the inmate, the man jumped and was dangling from the railing, said Simon Crittle, a spokesman for the sheriff’s department.
Liggins, who lifts weights and can bench-press more than 400 pounds, lifted the inmate with one arm while he reached for his radio with the other, Crittle said.
Liggins was able to call for help while holding the inmate so the sheet did not strangle him. Liggins held the inmate up until other inmates ran to the second floor and untied the sheet from the railing, Crittle said.
The inmate was given medical treatment for lacerations to his neck but is doing better, Crittle said. He even thanked Liggins for saving him.
Liggins, who has been a deputy for a little more than a year, has been nominated for the department’s meritorious commendation medal.
