Man gets trapped in jail cell for 12 hours

ELKHART, Ind. – Guards at a northern Indiana jail face disciplinary action and will receive additional training after a man was accidentally trapped inside a cell for 12 hours.

Elkhart County Sheriff Mike Books said officers and supervisors on the jail’s first and second shifts “failed to account” for 40-year-old Scott Roberts and that their actions were unacceptable.

The department did not say what discipline staff members faced.

Roberts said he was doing community service work Saturday when a mop bucket propping open a cell door spilled, and the door slammed shut. He wasn’t released until after family members arrived at the jail looking for him about 10:30 p.m.