For the second time in four weeks, corrections officers were attacked and injured by prisoners at Green Haven Correctional Facility in Stormville.
The incident occurred on Sunday morning, February 19 at 8:20 and made public at the end of the week by the New York State Correctional Officers Police Benevolent Association, the union that represents the officers.
Two corrections officers sustained minor injuries when the inmate, Anthony Torres, 50, who is service a 25-year sentence for manslaughter and attempted murder, pulled one of them into his cell and punched him several times.
According to the union, Torres has just returned to his cell but did not lock gate. An officer assigned to the cell block gave him several orders to close the gate, but he refused. As the officer went over to close the gate, Torres grabbed the officer by the shirt with both hands and attempted to pull him into the cell. The officer tried to push away but couldn’t and Torres punched him several times on his body as he tried to pull him into his cell.
During the attack, the officer activated his personal alarm and struck Torres as he pulled him into the cell.
The second officer responded and sprayed pepper spray in the inmate’s face to get him to let go of the officer’s shirt.
The inmate released his grip on the officer, but continued to struggle with both when they tried to get restrains on him.
Two additional officers responded and put the inmate in body holds while he was put in restraints.
Torres was convicted of manslaughter and attempted murder in Queens in 2005. He stabbed his estranged wife to death and stabbed her boyfriend in Jamaica, Queens in 2004.
Following this latest attack, he was placed in a special housing unit and will face disciplinary charges as a result of the attack on the officers.
“Sunday’s incident is a clear example of how providing our members with additional resources, like pepper spray, can help them as well as get violent inmates under control quickly,” said Union Vice President for the Mid-Hudson Regional Michael Mazzella.
Late last month, six correctional officers were injured when attacked by three prisoners at Green Haven.
