Victim’s Spleen Was Lacerated, Needed to Be Removed; He Is Still Undergoing Rehabilitation
Bronx District Attorney Darcel D. Clark today announced that four Rikers Island inmates have been indicted on Gang Assault and related charges for brutally beating a fellow inmate, leaving him hospitalized with serious injuries.
District Attorney Clark said, “The defendants allegedly carried out a brutal, unprovoked attack against a fellow detainee inside a facility on Rikers Island. They allegedly punched and kicked the victim so severely that his spleen had to be removed and his rib was fractured, among other serious injuries. We will not tolerate violence on Rikers Island and are doing everything we can to hold people accountable for it, but more must be done to prevent such incidents.”
District Attorney Clark said the defendants Moquease Mendez, 18, and Shatike Robinson, 23, were arraigned on June 21, 2023 on first-degree Assault, first-degree Gang Assault, seconddegree Gang Assault, two counts of second-degree Assault and third-degree Assault before Bronx Supreme Court Justice George Villegas. The defendants were remanded and are due back in court on September 13, 2023. Two other defendants, former detainees Akeem Williams, 22, and Nicholas White, 24, have also been indicted on the same charges and are awaiting arraignment.
According to the investigation, at approximately 5:40 a.m. on May 17, 2023, inside a bathroom in the intake holding cell of the Eric M. Taylor Center, as multiple detainees were awaiting processing, Mendez began to antagonize a 39-year-old detainee. The defendant allegedly threw objects at the victim and splashed him with milk. Mendez then allegedly kicked and punched the victim multiple times. After the victim exited the bathroom to get assistance, Mendez, Robinson and Williams allegedly struck the victim multiple times, then followed him and White allegedly joined them to punch and kick the victim about the body, mostly in his abdomen.
The victim was taken to a local hospital for abdominal pain, a rib fracture, and a Grade 4 splenic laceration with multiple pseudoaneurysms. The victim suffered internal bleeding and had to undergo surgery. He needed a second surgery to remove his spleen and was intubated. The victim was discharged from the hospital after two weeks and his rehabilitation continues.
District Attorney Clark also thanked the New York City Department of Correction Intelligence Bureau, specifically Investigators Korab Hasangjekaj, Jeffrey Rios, and Walter Holmes, for their work in the investigation.
An indictment is an accusatory instrument and not proof of a defendant’s guilt.
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