Thursday, November 7, 2019

FORMER DOC CAPTAIN SENTENCED FOR BEATING RIKERS ISLAND INMATE AND FALSIFYING RECORDS


 Bronx District Attorney Darcel D. Clark today announced that a former Department of Correction Captain has been sentenced for beating a Rikers Island inmate in 2016, and for lying about the incident in official paperwork. 

 District Attorney Clark said, “The defendant, a former DOC Captain, severely beat an inmate in the Eric M. Taylor Center in Rikers Island, leaving him with multiple bruises and several broken teeth. The defendant then lied about the incident in paperwork, to cover up his actions.”

 District Attorney Clark said Sandy Arkhurst, 44, of Queens, pleaded guilty to seconddegree Assault, first-degree Falsifying Business Records and Official Misconduct on October 2, 2019. As part of the Court’s plea agreement, the defendant also resigned from DOC. Arkhurst was sentenced to five years’ probation and 200 hours of community service by Bronx Supreme Court Justice Robert Neary. The People had requested a sentence of one to three years in prison.

 According to the investigation, on June 3, 2016, the defendant, leader of the Probe Team, and other DOC Officers, responded to the Eric M. Taylor Center after the victim, Rodolfo Rodriguez, 18, an inmate at the time, refused to enter his housing area. Rodriguez was peppersprayed by another Officer and taken to the shower area to wash it off. While Rodriguez was rear-cuffed, Arkhurst punched and kicked him, and hit him with a wooden baton. After the beating, Arkhurst falsified information in a DOC Use of Force Report regarding the incident. He also failed to provide medical aid to the inmate, who had sustained multiple injuries.

 District Attorney Clark also thanked DOC Investigations Division Investigator Damon Storer; and the New York City Department of Investigation, specifically DOI Assistant Inspector General Mercedes Bayon and Assistant Inspector General Sony Fortune, under the supervision of Inspector General Dana A. Roth, Deputy Commissioner/Chief of Investigations Dominick Zarrella, and First Deputy Commissioner Daniel Cort.

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