Four city Correction officers were attacked by inmates – including one notorious for assaulting jail guards – in two recent incidents on Rikers Island, according to officials and union reps.
The first incident happened when an inmate was being escorted from the clinic to his cell at the North Infirmary Command around 6:20 p.m. Saturday when he became “combative,” according to a DOC spokesperson and the Correction Officers’ Benevolent Association (COBA).
Officers “attempted to de-escalate the situation” and deployed pepper spray when the inmate, Michael Megginson, didn’t comply, according to city and union officials.
But Megginson – who has allegedly attacked Correction officers more than 40 times over the past year he’s been behind bars on assault charges – then became unruly and ripped a sink out of the wall of a cell where he was taken for decontamination, according to the union.
The unhinged inmate banged the sink against the window – and despite being pepper-sprayed twice more – used a pipe he removed from its plumbing to attack three workers, officials said.
One of the officers was stabbed in the left arm, another sustained a puncture wound to the buttocks and a third – who helped take the inmate to the ground – complained of pain, the union said.
The officers were hospitalized for an evaluation and treatment before being returned to their commands, the DOC said.
“The safety and security of our staff is our top priority,” DOC Commissioner Louis A. Molina said in a statement. “Our Officers have one of the toughest jobs in law enforcement and they are managing an increasingly violent population. We are committed to ensuring that they can come to work, do their jobs and return home to their families safely.”
Then on Tuesday, Lamar Evans – who was being held on robbery and menacing charges at the George R. Vierno Center – attacked another correction officer, according to officials and records.
He had been carrying a weapon when the officer asked him to drop it, but he refused, the union said.
The officer used his pepper spray – but that didn’t stop Evans from using the same weapon to slash the guard behind the ear, according to the union.
The injured Correction employee was taken to the Elmhurst Hospital Center, where he was listed in stable condition.
“Acts of violence against our officers by noncompliant individuals will not be tolerated,” Molina said in a statement. “Our thoughts are with the injured officer. The person in custody responsible for this senseless act will be rearrested.”
In a sharply worded statement, COBA President Benny Boscio called for “an immediate lockdown of every housing area in every facility until a full weapons search is conducted.”
“Second, any inmate who assaults more than one of our officers should be placed in a secure housing area 23 hours a day indefinitely or removed from our system entirely,” Boscio said. “It’s time for the leadership of this agency to hold assaultive inmates accountable for their crimes instead of suspending our members who are dealing with impossible situations.”
“After 16 Federal Monitor’s reports, Correction Officers remain sitting ducks for repeat violent offenders, who continue to be coddled by this agency.”
The last federal monitor report – filed in Manhattan federal court earlier this month – sounded the alarm about a “disturbing level of regression” on Rikers Island.
“The current state of affairs and rates of use of force, stabbings and slashings, fights, assaults on staff, and in-custody deaths remain extraordinarily high—they are not typical, they are not expected, they are not normal,” monitor Steve Martin wrote.