Detention Officer Rosina Rosado in the Wake County Detention Center (Photo credit: Anthony DeHart, WPTF/Curtis Media Group).
Anthony DeHart
On Thursday, November 17, Detention Officer Rosina Rosado collapsed in a dormitory due to a medical emergency. To her surprise, the very inmates she was supervising ran to her aid.
“I was with about 60 inmates”, Rosado said. “When I fell to the ground they came to me and helped me. They saw immediately that I was needing help, [and] they [made] the good call to grab my radio and call for help.”
Wake County Detention Director Dail Butler says the situation could have gone very differently.
“[Officer Rosado] had her radio on her, she had keys on her, she had OC spray”, Butler said. “This situation could have gone a different way, but it didn’t. They helped her.”
Rosado says she’s grateful that the inmates chose to help her.
“I’m grateful for what they did,” Rosado said, “It was not their obligation, but they chose to help me. It was amazing. Scary, and amazing.”
Rosado says the way officers treat inmates goes a long way in determining how they will respond.
“If I offer them an officer that… treats [them] like a human, they’re going to treat [me] with respect,” Rosado said.
Thanks to the inmates quick actions, Rosado is now fully recovered and back on the job. She hasn’t had the opportunity to thank the inmates that helped her that day, but wants them to know that she’s grateful.
The Wake County Sheriff’s office is also looking into other ways to recognize the inmates for their actions. The office is working with the Lassiter Education Foundation in hopes of providing scholarships to the inmates in recognition of their actions. More immediately, Keefe, the commissary vendor, will be donating snack bags for the inmates in the dorm.