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Two inmates attack two guards at prison
Photo
Sammy Torres
BY Jordan Cohen
LEAVITTSBURG
Two corrections officers at the Trumbull Correctional Institution were injured when they were attacked by two inmates while trying to break up a fight in the prison yard.
Other corrections officers helped subdue the inmates Saturday and restore order.
The Ohio State Highway Patrol identified the officers as Thomas Jessep, 31, and William Warner, 41, both of Warren. The two men were released from Forum Health Trumbull Memorial Hospital after treatment for minor injuries.
TCI Warden Bennie Kelly said that an inmate, Samuel (Sammy) Torres, 23, grabbed Jessep, threw him to the ground and punched him after Jessep broke up a fight between Torres and another inmate. Kelly said Jessep was trying to place handcuffs on Torres when the prisoner “became combative.”
Trooper Karen Halverstadt, patrol investigator, said Warner was injured while trying to help his fellow corrections officer. “He dropped his radio, and an unknown prisoner threw the radio at Warner and struck him in the head,” Halverstadt said.
Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction records show that Torres is serving a nine-year sentence for aggravated robbery with a gun specification that occurred in Seneca County. He has been incarcerated at TCI since September.
Kelly said Torres has been placed in segregation, meaning that he is isolated from the other inmates. Two other prisoners also have been segregated for questioning. Kelly said investigators are trying to determine which of the two hit Warner with the radio.
“We’ll conduct our own internal investigation and turn our findings over to the Ohio State Patrol,” Kelly said.
Halverstadt indicated that a charge of felonious assault is pending.
The warden said he does not know when the two corrections officers will return to work. “We have occupational work-injury leave when our officers are hurt when responding to incidents with inmates,” Kelly said.
The warden also said TCI is investigating the incident, but “it does not appear that [the corrections officers] did anything they should not have done.”