Two Corrections officers have been attacked in a brutal four-hour span at Rikers Island Wednesday — together with one guard who was slashed by an notorious subway knifer, union officers stated.
The 11-year veteran officer was sliced on the island’s Otis Bantum Correctional Focus on 9:30 a.m. by reputed Crips gang member Shemar Shaw, 24, who attacked shortly after complaining a few misplaced pill, the officer stated in an unique interview.
“He ran up behind me and I felt like he grabbed me from the again of my head and did, like a swipe movement throughout my face,” stated the officer, who requested to stay nameless.
“It felt like ache, and like sandpaper going throughout my face,” the officer stated, noting that the weapon seemed to be a sharpened piece of steel.
Shaw is being held in Rikers after he allegedly punched and knifed a 29-year-old man in February as a result of the sufferer bumped him on a prepare passing by means of Rockefeller Heart, cops and prosecutors stated.
“Seeing how he did that…in common society, because of the legal guidelines, he is aware of that, all proper, if I assault an officer right here, it’s not gonna actually imply nothing to him,” the injured officer stated of Shaw’s earlier bust.
The officer was hospitalized after the assault.
“Thank God that the weapon wasn’t sharper than what it was,” he stated.
About 4 hours later – whereas the jail was nonetheless on lockdown from the primary assault – Bloods gang member Malik Cooke allegedly threw a burning rag on the injured officer’s substitute, in accordance with the Correction Officers’ Benevolent Affiliation (COBA).
Round 2:50 p.m., Cooke allegedly manipulated his cell door so he might step out, mild the fabric on fireplace and hurl it on the 48-year-old feminine officer, the union stated.
The officer, who has been on the job since 2011, was handled for smoke inhalation, however no critical burns, in accordance with COBA.
Cooke was in custody on a second-degree housebreaking cost, on-line information present. Cops say he violated an order of safety in East Harlem in late July.
In the meantime, the primary attacked officer stated that is the fourth time an inmate assaulted him, however the first time he’d been slashed.
“I’m undoubtedly afraid,” he stated. “As a result of although it’s occurred to me right this moment, this might have occurred to anyone, and this additionally has occurred to folks previously as effectively….Now I really feel their ache greater than ever.”
He pushed for metropolis lawmakers to make a change to assist maintain Correction officers protected and cease violent inmates who now really feel “emboldened.”
“I need this job to be safer. Hopefully some sort of regulation [passes] the place I can come again to work and really feel like I can take a breath, like I can truly breathe relating to work,” he stated. “As a result of proper now, the anxiousness each time I come to work, I don’t know what’s going to occur.”
DOC Commissioner Lynelle Maginley-Liddie confirmed the assaults and stated the division is looking for justice for its two officers.
“An officer was slashed and one other assaulted whereas on responsibility, and we are going to pursue justice on their behalf,” she stated in a press release. “The assailant was instantly arrested, and we are going to search prosecution to the fullest extent of the regulation. Our heroic employees work tirelessly to maintain the individuals who reside and work in our jails protected, and any act of violence in opposition to them won’t ever be tolerated.”
COBA President Benny Boscio condemned the burst of jail violence in a strongly worded assertion.
“These unprovoked assaults by violent gang members on our correction officers, who have been merely doing their jobs, should not remoted incidents,” Boscio stated. “There have now been almost 600 correction officers assaulted this previous 12 months.”
