This man is lucky to be alive.
He is 64-year old Kenneth Moon, and he is a detention deputy at a jail in Tampa, Florida, watching over inmates who are awaiting trial.
He was the lone officer in a jail pod when an inmate charged him, punched him in the face, and put in him a choke hold. Moon was unable to use the radio on his desk to call for help.
But help came, anyway.
It came in the form of other inmates.
What makes this story so riveting is that these inmates were all facing charges related to violent crimes, from drug trafficking and sex offenses, to armed robbery and attempted murder.
In other words, folks who wouldn't be the most likely candidates to take home to mom.
Most would expect the prisoners to either help the attacker or to stand idly by and watch, especially given the stereotypical attitudes we see between law enforcement and criminals in many films and TV programs.
In this case, the alleged "bad guys" became the "good guys".
At a press conference, Jim Previtera of the Hillsboro County Detention Center was asked why the heroes of the hour did what they did.
Previtera simply stated, "Moon's a good guy. That's their response. They like Moon."
You can read the story and watch a video here.
People charged with violent crimes coming to the aid of a man who was helping to keep them incarcerated. Because they liked him.
This is where people should start asking the questions.
Why did these inmates like this man? Does that also imply that had the suspect been strangling another of the jail's deputies that they wouldn't have come to the rescue? And if not, what is the difference?
I have several thoughts on this.
One is that Moon is a total pushover as far as law enforcement officers go. He was a guy who took a bunch of crap from the inmates without saying anything back to them or reporting it to superiors, so Moon was no threat to the Alpha-Male-dom that prisons seem to have become.
Another possibility is that they just liked Moon more than the suspect.
But what I most strongly believe to be the case is that Moon was someone who has been straight with them from the day they arrived. He likely never rebuked or judged them, never tried to be condescending or superior to them. He did his job without any unnecessary force or harsh words.
By showing the inmates respect due to a human being, no matter what they're accused of - or even what they're guilty of - Moon paved the way for his own life to be preserved.
Karma. Three-fold path. Do unto others.
Perhaps the unsung hero in all of this is Moon himself.
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