Bronx District Attorney Darcel D. Clark announced on Friday, March 4, that a Rikers Island inmate has been charged with second-degree assault and additional charges for throwing scalding water at a New York City Department of Correction (DOC) officer in the jail, causing first-degree burns.

 

Clark said the defendant, Darrell Woods, 36, an inmate at the jail, was arraigned on March 3, on two counts of second-degree assault, third-degree assault, second-degree menacing, fourth-degree criminal possession of a weapon and second-degree obstructing governmental administration before Bronx Supreme Court justice, Steven Barrett. Bail was set at $25,000 cash/$75,000, bond/$75,000, partially secured bond at 10 percent.

 

In the context of the case, Clark said, “The defendant allegedly filled a cup with scalding water and threw it at a DOC officer. The 31-year-old victim’s skin was burned, and she had to be transported to a local hospital for treatment. The defendant has been indicted on assault charges for this awful, unprovoked attack.”

 

According to the investigation, on January 31, 2022, at approximately 12:38 p.m., the defendant was in the common recreation area of the jail, in the Anna M. Kross Center, with other inmates, as the DOC officer was on duty outside the gate door. Woods allegedly filled a cup with water that was approximately 190-degrees from an electric hot pot and threw it at the Officer’s torso area. The victim was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital where she was treated for first-degree burns.

 

The case is being prosecuted by senior investigative assistant district attorney, Georgia D. Barker, of the Rikers Island prosecution bureau, under the supervision of Francis Alberts, chief of the Rikers Island prosecution 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 assistants, Amanda Bonilla and Roderick Kelly, both of the Rikers Island prosecution bureau, for their assistance in the investigation as well as DOC correction intelligence bureau investigators, Daniel Monaco and Walter Holmes.

 

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

 

The defendant is due back in court on May 4.