By Reuven Blau
New York Daily News
NEW YORK — A Rikers Island correction officer needed nine stitches on his forehead after he was beaten by two inmates Wednesday.
Inmate Evan Zachary hit the unnamed officer after the two got into a verbal fight inside the Otis Bantum Correctional Center at 2:10 p.m., according to an internal Correction Department report.
Another inmate, Jorge Martinez, also began to punch the officer, the record shows. A responding officer stopped the assault as he hit the inmates with pepper spray.
The officer is the sixth seriously injured by an inmate attack over the past several weeks. Elias Husamudeen, president of the Correction Officers Benevolent Association, is furious the de Blasio administration hasn’t done more to protect officers.
The union president wants to the mayor to bring back solitary confinement for all inmates who act out. Research has shown that locking up detainees for 23 hours a day can cause serious medical harm, especially in teens.
The inmates involved in the attack will likely be rearrested and hit with added charges.
Zachary is in jail on a parole violation tied to a robbery case, records show. Martinez is facing weapons and attempted murder charges.
“While not a slashing, today’s attack on a Correction Officer on Rikers Island is deeply troubling,” Correction Department spokesman Peter Thorne said in a statement. “The officer, who suffered an injury to his forehead, was taken to a local hospital for treatment. The attack was immediately broken up by two officers.”
The inmates involved will be placed in solitary, he added.
The attack happened as City Hall officials unveiled their plan to shut down Rikers Island and build massive jails in four of the city’s boroughs.
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