Central Kentucky inmate’s ‘quick thinking’ saves deputy who blacked out while driving
An inmate at the Jessamine County Detention Center saved a truck full of fellow inmates and a jail deputy on Wednesday when the deputy had a medical emergency while driving, according to Jessamine County Jailer Jon Sallee.
The incident happened on Wednesday around noon when a deputy was driving four inmates back to the jail after a roadside cleanup assignment. Sallee said the deputy started having a diabetic emergency in the driver’s seat.
The deputy ended up blacking out, according to Sallee. The inmate sitting in the passenger seat, Terry Smallwood, responded by gaining control of the vehicle, putting it in park, calling for an ambulance and giving the deputy assistance until first responders arrived.
No one was hurt and the deputy was checked out on scene before going home with his wife.
“If you think about it, it could’ve went a lot of ways,” Sallee said. “There could’ve been a collision and hurt somebody else on the roadway, the deputy, the inmates. There could’ve been a lot of bad scenarios to happen but his quick thinking was able to keep a deputy and everybody safe.”
