NEW YORK (1010 WINS) – A city correction officer was taken to a hospital with a fractured rib and other injuries after he was attacked by an inmate on Rikers Island, officials said.
The unnamed officer told the Daily News that he was attacked at the Otis Bantum Correctional Center on Thursday night.
The inmate had asked to pick out items at a jail pantry, so the officer called on another officer to help him. But when he hung up the phone, the inmate punched him in the head, leaving him blacked out on the floor, the officer told the News.
“Somebody (else at the jail) said when I was on the ground he kicked me, punched me,” the officer said.
He said when he awoke, he was dizzy and unable to stand before he was discovered by another officer.
He was taken to New York-Presbyterian Queens to be treated for a fractured rib, a busted lip and injuries to his head and eye, according to the report.
The inmate is a purported member of the Bloods gang. Correction Officers' Benevolent Association President Benny Boscio Jr. called on Correction Commissioner Vincent Schiraldi to end gang-affiliated housing in the city’s jails.
“For the past eight years, the Department of Correction has housed inmates by their gang affiliation, which has emboldened the gangs to create little armies within the jails which lash out and assault our officers with impunity,” Boscio said. “How many more officers have to have their ribs, noses, and eye sockets broken until the department finally puts safety and security first?”
Correction Department press secretary Jason Kersten told the Daily News in a statement that the incident is under investigation.
“Assaulting people is as much a crime in our facilities as it is on the streets, and we will work with the Bronx DA to hold this individual accountable — and, more importantly, do all we can to productively occupy people in our custody to reduce violence and assure the safety of those who live and work here,” Kersten said.
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