Four Rikers correction officers were rushed to the hospital after what their union reps call an unprovoked attack by an inmate who is a Bloods gang member.
The violence left the Correction Officers’ Benevolent Association demanding the resignation of City Council member Danny Dromm, who has lobbied since 2017 for reforming and ultimately shutting the jail in his Queens district.
“Last night, four dedicated NYC Correction Officers were sent to the hospital after being brutally assaulted by a gang member,” COBA President Benny Boscio Jr. said in a statement.
The assault happened at 5:30 p.m. Friday at Rikers’ Otis Bantum Correctional Center, Boscio said.
A Correction Officer was letting an inmate out of his cell when the inmate — a Bloods member being held on a felony charge — allegedly jumped him, Boscio said.
The inmate punched the officer in the face, “fracturing his nose with blood everywhere,” Boscio said.
The guard also suffered a concussion, Boscio said, and three officers who rushed to help subdue the inmate suffered injuries including a broken finger and sprained wrists.
“This incident is just one of the countless assaults on our Correction Officers that have occurred recently. Assaults on our officers are up 15 percent this year. Instead of holding the assaultive inmates accountable for their crimes, Council Member Danny Dromm blames the victims of these assaults.
“He has failed our Correction Officers and his victim-blaming is a disgrace to the office he holds. He must resign now!”
As recently as this week, Dromm has criticized what he called abusive conditions at Rikers — suffered, he said, by inmates, not officers. He could not immediately be reached for comment.
He has sponsored a bill calling for a ban on solitary confinement in city jails.