Bronx District Attorney Darcel D. Clark today announced that a Queens man jailed
in Rikers Island has been indicted for attacking three New York City Department of
Correction Officers, one of whom suffered a gash on his arm that required 16 stitches.
District Attorney Clark said, “The defendant committed vicious, unprovoked
attacks on three Correction Officers. Our public servants should not have to face danger
when they go to work each day. We will not tolerate jailhouse violence.”
District Attorney Clark said the defendant, Matthew Whittington, 26, of 129-40
89th Avenue in Queens, has been indicted on second and third-degree Assault, first- and
second-degree Promoting Prison Contraband, second- and third-degree Menacing, fourth-degree
Criminal Possession of a Weapon, second-degree Obstructing Governmental
Administration and third-degree Attempted Assault.
He was arraigned today before Bronx Supreme Court Justice George Villegas and
is due back in court on December 15. If convicted, Whittington—a violent predicate
offender who is currently incarcerated--faces five to seven years in prison and five years
post-release supervision.
District Attorney Clark said that according to the investigation, on August 6, 2016,
at 7 p.m., Whittington allegedly struck Correction Officer Brian Nurse in the face,
causing him to strike his head on a cell door.
On August 7, 2016, at 6:40 a.m., Whittington allegedly struck Correction Officer
Malik Medina in the face, knocking him unconscious, when Medina was retrieving
Whittington’s food tray.
Correction Officer Corey Hughes heard the sound of Medina hitting the floor and
went to investigate. Whittington came at Hughes and allegedly slashed him with a scalpel
on his right forearm. It took 16 sutures to close the wound.
The case is being prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Sheryl Konigsberg of
the Rikers Island Prosecution Bureau, under the supervision of Sonya Tennell, Supervisor
of the Rikers Island Prosecution Bureau, James Brennan, Deputy Chief of the Rikers
Island Prosecution Bureau, and Deanna G. Logan, Chief of the Rikers Island Prosecution
Bureau, under the overall supervision of Stuart Levy, Deputy Chief of the Investigations
Division, and Jean T. Walsh, Chief of the Investigations Division.
The District Attorney thanked the Department of Correction’s Central Intelligence
Bureau for its assistance in this case.
An indictment is an accusatory instrument and not proof of a defendant’s guilt.
Rikers Island crime comes under the purview of the Bronx District attorney's office.
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