NEW YORK (1010 WINS) -- A Rikers Island physician assistant has hit the New York City Department of Correction with a lawsuit claiming he has dealt with panic attacks, nightmares and “debilitating” post-traumatic stress disorder since an inmate took him hostage and threatened to “chew his face off” last year, according to a report.
Jorge Villalobos, 59, was working as a physician assistant at the George R. Vierno Center on Sept. 24, 2019 when inmate Peter Rodriguez locked the two of them into a nursing station, the Daily News reported, citing a suit filed by Villalobos in Manhattan Federal Court.
One they were inside the station, Rodriguez — who is accused of stabbing his roommate to death during a rent dispute — told jail staffers he had taken Villabos “hostage” and was going to “f--- this n---- up if you don’t give me what I want,” the outlet reported.
“I don’t care if I kill him,” Rodriguez reportedly said, adding that he would blow up the facility and “chew [Villalobos’] face off.”
Jail staffers took more than an hour and a half to deescalate the situation, the lawsuit claims, according to the outlet.
The suit also claims the incident happened because correction officers “let Rodriguez sit in a medical area — where he sought treatment after a confrontation with correction officers — with his hands cuffed in the front,” the outlet reported.
The city’s Law Department told the outlet it would review the lawsuit. The Department of Correction didn’t respond to the outlet’s request for comment.