Hillsborough jail inmate lured deputy, choked her with pillowcase, Sheriff’s Office says
TAMPA — Two people being held in the Hillsborough County jail face charges in connection to a recent attack on a detention deputy.
The attack on Deputy Lillian Jimenez happened early on June 7 in a women’s pod at the Falkenburg Road Jail, according to a Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office news release issued Monday.
Shortly before 1 a.m., inmate Bridgette Lee Harvey, 42, approached Jimenez and said another inmate needed help. As Jimenez went to check on that inmate, 37-year-old April Christina Colvin, in the women’s restroom, Harvey walked up to Jimenez from behind and placed a pillowcase around her neck and tried to choke her, according to the Sheriff’s Office.
Jimenez was able to use her radio to call other deputies to help, and several other inmates also came to her aid by removing the pillowcase and freeing her from Harvey’s grip.
Jimenez suffered minor injuries to her neck and throat, the Sheriff’s Office said.
Harvey was placed in restraints and removed from the pod. She confessed to planning the attack, deputies said. She was also in possession of a small comb that she’d sharpened on both ends with her teeth.
The incident was captured by at least one of the jail’s surveillance cameras.
Harvey faces additional charges of aggravated battery on a law enforcement officer with a weapon, introduction of contraband into a detention facility and escape from confinement.
Colvin, described by the Sheriff’s Office as Harvey’s co-conspirator on the attack, faces a charge of escape from confinement.
Records show Harvey of Spring Hill was arrested and booked into jail on May 31 on an outstanding warrant out of Pasco County on a home invasion robbery charge.
Colvin was arrested May 24 on charges of resisting a law enforcement officer without violence, loitering or prowling, trespassing, petit theft and possession of a controlled substance. Records indicate she did not have a permanent home address at the time of her arrest.
