VIDEO: Questions Surround Death of PA Corrections Officer
The grieving widow of a Pennsylvania corrections officer fears she may never know what happened to her husband, gravely injured inside the walls of one of the state's toughest prisons.
David Weaver's job was to patrol the toughest blocks in the state. Weaver was a prison guard in Pennsylvania's "big house," State Correctional Institute (SCI) Graterford, a maximum-security prison.
It was where he fell from injuries which later took his life.
"It's five weeks today, so it's still very fresh, very raw," said an emotional Tara Weaver.
On Sept. 17 at 1:30 p.m. Weaver, 59, with 13 years on the job, was guarding dozens of inmates in an outdoor yard. Suddenly he fell backwards, striking his head against a concrete wall. He was working alone so there were no witnesses other than inmates. There were also no surveillance cameras at the site.
According to an autopsy, his skull was fractured and the hemorrhaging was extensive.
Asked why Weaver was alone in the yard, the Department of Corrections wrote, "Officer Weaver was stationed in a single-officer post. All of the DOC institutions have single-officer posts. This is not uncommon."
Jason Bloom, president of the Pennsylvania State Corrections Officers Association (PSCOA), told Fox 29. "In my 24 years of doing corrections, I have never walked in a yard by myself."
Bloom says single-officer posts make guards sitting targets.
The case is reportedly under investigation by the state police.
