Black Prisoner and Cellmate Charged with Knocking White Guard Unconscious

Dante Jeffries and Sharelle Sims

This is unfortunate.

But the victim knew what he was getting into when he signed up to be a zookeeper.

CWB Chicago:

A Cook County Jail correctional officer who was hospitalized with serious injuries after a maximum-security detainee attacked him and two co-workers last Tuesday is “sounding much better” but “still has massive pain,” according to updates on a GoFundMe page that is raising money for his recovery.

Yesterday, a grand jury returned attempted murder, kidnapping, and other charges against 30-year-old Dante Jeffries and his cellmate, 23-year-old Sharelle Sims in connection with the attack.

Officer William Watt was the most seriously injured of the three correctional officers who were targeted in the attack. Watt was helping another officer who had been choked unconscious by Jeffries when he was also attacked, according to information provided by the sheriff’s office.

“Officer Watt was knocked unconscious and struck his head on the concrete floor…It was discovered he had a skull fracture and a brain bleed,” the GoFundMe sponsor wrote.

Video of the attack shows an officer falling hard to the floor after being punched in the face on a catwalk.

Watt, a seven-year veteran of the sheriff’s office, was released from a hospital two days later.

William Watt