SAN ANTONIO – A Bexar County Sheriff’s Office detention deputy has been arrested after he provided false information in connection with a suicide attempt at the Bexar County Jail on Monday, BCSO Sheriff Javier Salazar said.
Sherman Andrews, 48, is charged with tampering with government documents.
Salazar said Andrews falsified a report on a cell check where a prisoner attempted to hang himself. It was during an investigation after the event that Andrews admitted to investigators that he lied on the report, Salazar said.
Salazar said the inmate that attempted suicide was not on suicide watch and was not checked during scheduled checks.
BCSO officials on Monday said a detention deputy was conducting observation checks around 3 p.m. when they saw the 47-year-old male inmate attempting to commit suicide.
A deputy used a suicide prevention cutting tool and began performing lifesaving measures to try to save the inmate, BCSO said.
Salazar said as of Wednesday morning, the inmate is still alive after he was transported to a hospital in critical condition.
BCSO said previously that the unidentified inmate was originally booked into the jail Saturday and is facing a first-degree felony of possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance.
Andrews, who has been with the Bexar County Sheriff’s Office since 2017, has been placed on administrative leave.
Salazar said he is not happy about the situation, however he is proud his deputies stepped up to do what needed to be done.
“Although I’ve mentioned before this is a distasteful part of what we do,” Salazar said. “But it’s something we demand of ourselves because the public demands it of us and they certainly deserve an agency that holds ourselves accountable if need be.”