Bronx District Attorney Darcel D. Clark announced on June 28 that a Bronx man was sentenced to five years in prison and five years of post-release supervision for assaulting a correction officer in a Rikers Island jail.

 

In the context of the case, Clark said, “The defendant, who was an inmate, approached the correction officer and refused verbal commands to step back, then repeatedly punched her until she was left bleeding and severely injured. If you attack a correction officer, we will hold you accountable. We had recommended a consecutive sentence but the court, over our objections, made the sentence concurrent to a prison term he is serving for a Manhattan case.”

 

According to the investigation, at around 10:56 a.m., inside the Anna M. Kross Center, defendant, Zaki Smith, 31, a jail inmate, approached the officer and started to threaten her. Smith refused orders by the officer and continued to advance towards her. The officer deployed her pepper spray and ran towards the exit with Smith in pursuit. She fell to the ground and Smith proceeded to get on top of her and repeatedly struck her in the head with closed fists.

 

As a result of Smith’s actions, the officer suffered several lacerations to the forehead, which required stiches, as well as a swollen nose and swollen eye sockets, a herniated disc and a tear in her hip. She suffered mental anguish as well and is in physical therapy for her injuries. Body camera footage captured the brutal attack as well as the threats made by the inmate to the officer’s life.

 

Clark said Smith was sentenced on June 27, to five years in prison and five years of post-release supervision by Bronx Supreme Court Justice Guy Mitchell. He pleaded guilty to second-degree assault on March 23. (We have asked the District Attorney’s office for confirmation of the date of the assault and will update this story upon receipt of a response.)

 

The case was prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Nadia Alirahi of the Rikers Island Prosecution Bureau, under the supervision of Frank Alberts, chief of the Rikers Island Prosecution Bureau, and under the overall supervision of Denise Kodjo, deputy chief of investigations, and Wanda Perez-Maldonado, chief of investigations.

 

Clark thanked case discovery analyst, Jordy Burgos, trial prep assistant, Roderick Kelly, and Bronx District Attorney’s Office Department of Corrections liaison investigator, Walter Holmes, as well as the Correction Intelligence Bureau investigator, Daniel Monaco, for their assistance in the case.

 

As recently reported on July 29, a DOC captain and three DOC officers were recently charged with reckless endangerment of a Rikers Island inmate, in the context of the inmate’s suicide attempt.

 

On May 8, we also recently reported how a Rikers Island inmate got sentenced to nine years for assault as a result of a two-hour stand-off, during which the inmate threatened to chew off an employee’s face.

 

On March 8, a Rikers Island inmate was charged with scalding a corrections officer, and on Jan. 24, a Rikers Island inmate was charged with the attempted rape of a nurse, and with forcibly touching a DOC officer.