A city correction officer at the Rikers Island prison complex have been seriously injured on Monday when a detainee stabbed him more than a dozen times in the back of the head, the correction officers’ union said in a statement.
The officer, who police said is 28 years old, was taken to Elmhurst Hospital after the attack yesterday afternoon.
The inmate suspected of stabbing him has been identified as Dennis Applewhite, according to police.
Applewhite had been at Rikers since February on charges he shot his girlfriend to death last year.
In a statement, Mayor Eric Adams decried the attack.
“Correction officers risk their lives every day, working to keep our jails and our city safe. This was a vicious and senseless attack on one of New York’s Boldest and a sober reminder of the difficult and often challenging work that officers do day in and day out,” Adam said. “Commissioner Molina and I will not tolerate any form of violence against the department’s employees and we are committed to bringing safety to our city’s jails. I am praying for a speedy and full recovery for this officer.”
Both Adams and Molina visited the officer while he recovered qt the hospital.
This comes as another inmate died at the jail over the weekend. The Correction Department says 26-year-old Gilberto Garcia died Sunday afternoon.
He was being held at Rikers on a first-degree robbery charge. The cause of death is under investigation.
His death is the 18th related to Rikers this year and the 16th to happen while in the custody of the Correction Department.
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