By Don Jacobs
Knoxville News-Sentinel
KNOX COUNTY, Tenn. — Knox County Corrections Officer Paul Owens was gathering lunch trays in his jail pod when he opened the door to Troy Dewayne Johnson’s cell.
Without warning, the 24-year-old Johnson reportedly lunged from his cell and slammed his fist into Owens’ face, sending the former Marine reeling backward. Owens fell to the floor, sending the radio on his belt sliding across the floor and out of reach.
The 6-foot, 3-inch tall, 200-pound Johnson stood over Owens, pummeling the jailer’s face and head with his fists. There were no other jailers in the area and only other inmates and a video camera were watching the assault.
That’s when 31-year-old inmate Eric Anthony Green came to Owens’ rescue. Although smaller, Green threw himself at Johnson, knocking him off the battered jailer. Green held Johnson at bay, allowing Owens time to reach his radio and depress the emergency button, sending out an electronic call for help.
“If it hadn’t been for the other inmate, he would have been seriously hurt,” said Rodney Bivens, Knox County Sheriff’s Office assistant chief deputy over corrections and personnel. Knox County Sheriff Jimmy “J.J.” Jones was at once complimentary of Green and also hesitant to discuss the incident.
“I’m not going to say it never happens, but it doesn’t happen a lot,” the sheriff said of an inmate intervening to help a jailer. Bivens was more specific. In the 25 years he’s been with the Sheriff’s Office, he couldn’t recall a similar incident where an inmate stopped an attack by a fellow inmate.
Jones noted Green’s rescue also put him in danger with fellow inmates who aren’t prone to help a jailer in trouble.
Prompted by gratitude and a fear for Green’s safety among the other inmates, Green was released on his own recognizance on Feb. 23.
Green will reside with his grandmother in Greenback in Loudon County until his outstanding charges are resolved, said Green’s courtappointed attorney Mitch Harper.
“They wanted a place for him to live and to succeed,” Harper said. “He was in considerable danger while he was still in (jail).”
Troubled inmate
Green has been trying to serve a three-year prison sentence since 2005.
His criminal history in Knox County is relatively minor, with convictions in 2000 on charges of vandalism, simple possession of drugs and assault.
But in 2004, when Green was abusing prescription medications, he broke into three cars and a garage to get more pain pills, according to court records. He pleaded guilty in July 2005 to four counts of burglary and was given a three-year sentence.
Green said he first used alcohol at age 9, marijuana at age 11 and cocaine by 18.
It only took a year from the time Green was placed on probation in 2005 before he was accused of not following the rules of supervision.
Each time Green was arrested for violating probation, Knox County judges would set him free again on probation. That happened in 2006, 2009 and 2011.
Each time his three-year sentence was renewed. The latest court order has him on probation until Oct. 27, 2014, - from the 2005 conviction.
Early last year, Green allegedly stole 50 brass backflow prevention valves from home irrigation systems in West Knox County. He allegedly used fake names and sold the devices for scrap. He also stole musical equipment from a vehicle, records state.
In December 2011, a grand jury issued a 17-count indictment against Green, charging him with burglary, theft, identity theft, forgery and drug possession.
On Jan. 17, Green was arrested and ordered held without bond on a probation violation. Bond was set at $40,000 on the new criminal charges.
On Feb. 19, the day the jailer was attacked, Green was a trusty collecting lunch trays with a stack of probation violations, a host of new felony charges pending and little hope of seeing freedom.
Mentally disabled
Troy Dewayne Johnson’s only explanation for attacking a hospital security guard in 2009 was “something came over me.”
The assault on the male security guard at St. Mary’s Medical Center apparently was unprovoked and vicious, records show. Johnson grabbed a 2 ½ -foot-long antique picture and repeatedly struck the guard in the head with it in the hospital emergency room.
Johnson explained to a probation officer he had been diagnosed in 2008 as being bipolar and having another psychotic problem. He was taking medications to control the issues, records show. That aggravated assault charge and a simple possession of marijuana offense were Johnson’s first criminal convictions. In 2010, he was convicted of driving without a license.
Johnson was sentenced in July 2010 to 3-6 years imprisonment on the aggravated assault offense and one year on the drug charge. In September 2010, he was granted judicial diversion, meaning the offenses would be wiped from his criminal record if he successfully completed probation.
Nine months later, Johnson’s probation officer was before a judge asking that Johnson be arrested. Johnson was five months in arrears in paying his supervision fee, failed two drug tests and had been convicted in February 2011 of driving without a license, records show.
Officers arrested Johnson June 6, 2011, on the probation violation charge. On Feb. 10, Johnson was released from jail on his own recognizance after he entered the jail’s Intensive Treatment Program for evaluation.
Eight days later, police again arrested Johnson after he allegedly was intoxicated at a North Central Street tattoo business harassing customers. He was dancing on the hood of a customer’s car, records state.
“He stated he had taken some unknown medication and smoked marijuana,” the arrest warrant states.
Johnson was charged with public intoxication and disorderly conduct. Less than 15 hours later, he allegedly assaulted Owens.
Jail staffing
Jail staffing had nothing to do with the assault on Owens, an assistant chief said.
Records show of the 31 non-ranking correction officers slated to work in the housing units on the Sunday that Owens was attacked, nine didn’t because of sickness, vacation or taking the day off. Roster sheets show four vacancies on the shift, also.
“There are times we are short-staffed, but to say the assault was a result of being short-staffed, no, that’s a lie,” said Sheriff’s Office Assistant Chief Bivens. “That assault would have happened no matter how many officers we had working.”
Owens, 27, sustained strained muscles in his neck and back, a swollen jaw, a knot on his head and scratches on his neck from the assault, records show. He was treated at a hospital but did not miss any work.
Since the attack, Owens has been on light duty away from other inmates, Bivens said. The jail medical staff will determine when Owens can return to regular duty.
Owens declined to publicly discuss the attack.
Still undisclosed is how Green’s rescue of Owens will affect his pending criminal charges.
Knox County District Attorney General Randy Nichols said Sheriff Jones called him the day of the attack on Owens.
“He had some concerns about (Green’s) safety,” Nichols said. “I said we generally try to help the people who help us.”
Green’s attorney declined to elaborate on what will happen with the 17-count indictment against Green.
“We have discussed those charges and that’s all I’ll say for now,” Mitch Harper said of conversations with prosecutors.
Green declined to comment.
While Jones said he “certainly approves” of Green’s rescue of Owens, he declined to discuss what his office has done on the inmate’s behalf. “He still has to come back and stand trial for his charges,” Jones said. “I have concerns that we not put him in a precarious situation by bringing a lot of attention to it.”
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