THE BRONX — Four correction officers were charged for beating up a Rikers Island inmate and covering it up, the Bronx District Attorney said Friday.
The assault happened in March 2013 at Rikers Island when two officers, Michael Dorsainvil, 37, and Christopher Huggins, 31, walked into a cell and approached an unidentified inmate.
As the inmate backed away, Dorsainvil hit him in the face.
Then another correctional officer, Mark Anglin, 39, entered the cell and grabbed the inmate. The three officers forced the inmate to the floor and beat him, leaving the man with bruises and cuts that required stitches, according to the District Attorney’s Office.
After the beating, the three officers filed false use-of-force reports to the Department of Correction saying that the beating was “necessary to prevent the inmate from hanging himself,” according to the Bronx DA.
A fourth officer, Ronald Donnelly, 61, also filed a fake report, telling the DOC that he witnessed the incident.
Surveillance video captured the beating and helped investigators discover the cover up, according to the District Attorney.
Dorsainvil, Huggins and Anglin were charged with attempted gang assault. They, along with Donnelly, were also charged with falsifying business records.
After the 2013 incident, each of the officers, who make a base salary of $76,488, were given different positions that kept them away from inmates. All four have been suspended since Friday’s arrest.
If convicted, Dorsainvil, Huggins, and Anglin face 15 years in prson. Donnelly faces four, according to the District Attorney’s office.
