By C1 Staff
MT. VERNON, Ill. — An officer with the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Department has been honored with the Life Saving Award for his quick actions in saving the life of an inmate in September.
ABC News reports that Officer Michael Mack was the first on the scene when an inmate attempted to hang himself from a pipe on the ceiling of a pod. Mack had to climb a 15-foot fence at the top of a flight of stairs to reach the man, and it was all recorded on video.
“I got a hold of him so he couldn’t hang himself,” Mack said, “and ended up getting the tie off the pipe up there.”
Mack said the only thing on his mind that day was thinking about the inmate’s family.
“I think of all the inmates as my kids and I wouldn’t want their parents to go through losing a son,” Mack said. “Every life matters. It doesn’t matter who it is. Everyone matters.”
The inmate remains on suicide watch following the incident last month, but Sheriff Travis Allen said that the man has really transformed.