Defendant Put Officer in Chokehold and Struck Officers With Broomstick; Victims Needed Hospital Treatment
Bronx District Attorney Darcel D. Clark today announced that a Rikers Island inmate has been indicted on Attempted Murder charges for attacking multiple NYC Department of Correction Officers with a broomstick and for putting one of the Officers in a chokehold.
District Attorney Clark said, “The defendant, a Rikers Island inmate, allegedly put a DOC Officer in a chokehold during an unprovoked attack and struck him with a broomstick taken from a janitor’s closet. He also allegedly struck a DOC Captain with the broomstick directly in the face. He did all this while kicking and biting other DOC staff who responded to the incident. Attacks against Correction Officers doing their jobs on Rikers Island will not be tolerated.”
District Attorney Clark said the defendant Rafael Mieses, 36, was arraigned on Attempted Murder in the first and second degree, Attempted Assault in the first degree, 12 counts of second-degree Assault, first, second and third-degree Robbery, third and fourth-degree Criminal Possession of a Weapon, four counts of third-degree Assault, Petit Larceny, fifth-degree Criminal Possession of Stolen Property, and second-degree Obstruction of Governmental Administration before Bronx Supreme Court Justice George Villegas. The defendant was remanded and is due back in court on April 6, 2023.
According to the investigation, at approximately 9:20 PM on December 21, 2022, in the de-escalation area in the Vernon C. Bain Center, the defendant got out of his cell and began taking items from the janitor’s closet. When a Correction Officer told Mieses to leave the items, the defendant allegedly charged at the Officer, kicked him repeatedly and struck the Officer multiple times about the body with a broomstick. While the Officer was on the ground, the defendant lay on top of him, placed him in a chokehold, pressed the broom handle up against the victim’s neck, and attempted to take the Officer’s pepper spray canister. Additional DOC Staff arrived and the defendant allegedly released the chokehold and turned to a DOC Captain and struck her in the face with the broomstick. Mieses then turned to the first victim again, held the broomstick against his throat and forced him to the ground for a second time, causing him to drop his chemical spray canister. The defendant then picked it up and attempted to use the pepper spray against staff.
According to the investigation, when the DOC probe team arrived, the defendant allegedly resisted staff, kicking and striking several Correction Officers with the broomstick. Mieses also bit a probe team member in the forearm. The Correction Officers were treated for head trauma, multiple body contusions, and lacerations at a local hospital.
District Attorney Clark also thanked the New York City Department of Correction Intelligence Bureau, specifically Investigator Lakeisha White, for her work in the investigation.
An indictment is an accusatory instrument and not proof of a defendant’s guilt.
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