Fort Worth inmate in wheelchair attacks Tarrant jail officer

A Tarrant County jail inmate who lost both feet in November when he tried to jump on a train while fleeing authorities on Wednesday attacked a corrections officer with a “sharpened piece of metal,” a sheriff’s spokesman said.

Victor Ramires, 31, had spent the night at John Peter Smith Hospital and was being returned to jail in a county van when he attacked officer Willie Claybourn, spokesman Terry Grisham said.

Claybourn had stopped the van to help Ramires, who uses a wheelchair, because Claybourn thought he was “in distress or needed assistance,” Grisham said. “The officer was then attacked with a homemade weapon. It was a piece of metal with some sort of handle with tape.”

The attack was reported at 3:09 p.m at Crawford and East Rosedale streets.

Grisham said he wasn’t sure if Ramires was handcuffed. Investigators will try to learn where Ramires got the piece of metal.

Claybourn, 57, was taken to Texas Health Harris Methodist Hospital with minor cuts and abrasions, Grisham said.

The officer has been with the department for 12 years.

Ramires was indicted in April on charges of continuous sexual abuse of a child, indecency/fondling and evading arrest. On Nov. 23, fugitive officers went to arrest Ramires on warrants involving continuous sexual abuse of a child under 14 in cases dating back to 2007. He led the officers on a car chase that ended when he crashed on East Rosedale Street.

Ramires got out of the car and ran down an embankment to train tracks. He grabbed onto a train car to try to get away, but slipped off and was dragged under the train, police reported at the time.

He now faces a charge of aggravated assault on a public servant, Grisham said. Jail transportation policies and procedures will be reviewed, he said.

This story was originally published February 17, 2016 at 4:09 PM with the headline "Fort Worth inmate in wheelchair attacks Tarrant jail officer."