Bronx District Attorney Darcel D. Clark announced Wednesday, Jan. 17, that three NYC Department of Corrections (DOC) officers have been charged with falsifying business records, official misconduct, and related charges for allegedly making false and misleading reports after one of the correction officers allegedly struck a Rikers Island inmate.

 

Clark said defendants, Carl Williams, 31, Roy Dewar, 58, and Jatan Das, 64, were arraigned on Jan. 17, on charges of first-degree falsifying business records, first-degree offering a false instrument for filing, second-degree falsifying business records, second-degree offering a false instrument for filing, and official misconduct. She said Williams was additionally charged with third-degree assault, before Bronx Supreme Court Justice George R. Villegas.

 

According to the investigation, at around 6.15 a.m. on Oct. 14, 2021, inside the Otis Bantum Correctional Center on Rikers Island, Williams entered a housing area and began speaking with an inmate who was standing with his hands by his sides when Williams was allegedly observed on surveillance video striking the man in the face, and adopting a fighting stance.

 

Das and Dewar both allegedly observed the assault. The investigation found that the defendants allegedly submitted reports to the DOC, alleging the inmate was the aggressor and that use of force was justified.

 

In the context of the announcement, Clark said, “We must hold correction officers to a high standard. These defendants violated the trust put in them by allegedly filing false instruments about an officer’s assault on an inmate. Just as the alleged violence will not be tolerated, neither will the cover up, especially in this turbulent time in Rikers Island.”

 

For her part, Department of Investigation (DOI) Commissioner Jocelyn E. Strauber said of the incident, “As alleged, these City correction officers concealed misconduct and sought to protect another correction officer by omitting key facts from use of force reports.” She added, “The integrity of City correction officers is paramount, and like all law enforcement, they have an obligation to complete official documents accurately, consistent with their agency’s rules.

 

Strauber went on to say that DOI law enforcement partners would hold accountable those who fail to do so. “I thank the Bronx District Attorney [office] for their prosecution of this matter, and the City Department of Correction for its assistance.”

 

In a statement, the president of the Correction Officers’ Benevolent Association, COBA, Benny Boscio, classified the charges as “trumped up,” saying, “The fact that the Bronx DA has chosen to indict these three officers over allegations that were made over two years ago tells us that this case is being driven more by the politics of our times than by the facts.”

 

Boscio added, “Furthermore, these types of allegations have historically been handled within the Department of Correction’s disciplinary system rather than being turned into a criminal case and media circus. We hope that the over 800 cases of inmates charged with assaulting our officers over the past five years will be treated with the same zealous prosecution displayed in this case.”

 

Norwood News has reported in the past on different assaults by inmates on correction officers. We also reported on an incident where a DOC captain and three corrections officers were charged for alleged reckless endangerment of a Rikers Island inmate.

 

The case is being prosecuted by assistant district attorneys, Cassie Perez and Aja Espinosa, of the Public Integrity Bureau, under the supervision of Omer Wiczyk, chief of the Public Integrity Bureau, and under the overall supervision of Denise Kodjo, deputy chief of the Investigations Division, and Wanda Perez-Maldonado, chief of the Investigations Division.

 

Clark thanked trial preparation assistant, Lakora Sarkodie, of the Public Integrity Bureau for her assistance in the case. She also thanked the DOI Inspector General for the Department of Correction, specifically, Assistant Inspector General Alexandra Caruana, under the supervision of Inspector General Whitney Ferguson, chief of investigations Deputy Commissioner Dominick Zarrella, and First Deputy Commissioner Daniel Cort.

 

A person accused of a crime is deemed innocent unless and until convicted in a court of law.

 

The defendants are due back in court on April 19.