News release
OGDENSBURG, NY – One officer was injured when he was attacked by an inmate in the bathroom of the medium-security correctional facility last week.
The assault occurred on Thursday, April 7. An officer, on routine rounds in a dorm, entered the bathroom and noticed an inmate in one of the bathroom stalls acting suspicious. The officer asked the inmate what he was doing. He witnessed the inmate having some type of contraband in his hand. The inmate quickly threw the object in the toilet and flushed it. As the officer was about to enter the stall, the inmate opened the door and charged the officer. He attempted to punch the officer several times, and was successful in striking him once in the side of his face and temple. The inmate continued to come at the officer. The officer was able to get enough separation from the inmate and administered OC spray, which initially had no effect.
Still aggressive and combative, the inmate came at the officer again. The officer administered a second round of OC spray, which had the desired effect. Additional staff arrived and handcuffed the inmate and removed him from the dorm bathroom.
The inmate, 24, was placed in a Special Housing Unit pending disciplinary charges. He is serving a three year sentence after being convicted for Robbery second-degree in New York County in 2020.
The officer sustained injuries to his hand, face, knee and back. He was transported to Claxton-Hepburn Medical Center for treatment.
A second officer, who responded to the assistance call, sustained a knee injury in the incident and was treated at CHMC and released.
The violence at the facility also included an inmate on inmate fight two days prior in the recreation room of one of the dorms. An officer assigned to the doom, witnessed two inmates fighting and armed with weapons. One inmate had a combination lock inside of a sock and was striking the other inmate about the head and body with the sock. The second inmate was armed with a broken off broom stick and he was striking the first inmate in the head and body. The fight continued as both inmates ignored staff orders to stop. OC spray was administered to both inmates and had the desired effect.
Both inmates were removed from the dorm, decontaminated and placed in Special Housing Units pending disciplinary charges.
“Without any real consequences for their actions, inmate assaults continue to persist throughout our correctional facilities. All HALT has done is further water down a disciplinary system that had already been significantly weakened by the NYCLU settlement. Inmate on staff and inmate on inmate assaults are going to continue at this rapid pace unless the legislature takes real action to curb the violence. The only real option left to keep our members safe is for county district attorneys to prosecute cases where it will impact an inmates release date and hopefully send a strong message that assaults on staff will not be tolerated .” – stated John Roberts, NYSCOPBA Northern Region Vice President.