A prison officer inside Rikers Island was stabbed at least 15 times, the author of which would be an inmate from the Bronx, prison sources reported .
The suspect in the incident was identified as Dennis Fredericks, aged 28, who is also known as Dennis Applewhite, according to sources to the New York Daily News.
Meanwhile, the officer, who has not been identified, had to be rushed to Elmhurst Hospital in serious but stable condition after what the commissioner of the Department of New York City Correction (DOC), Louis Molina, called it an “unprovoked, egregious and insensitive attack”.
“Earlier today, while working in the protective custody unit at the Anna M. Kross Center, one of our Correctional Officers was brutally stabbed in the back of the head by an inmate approximately 15 times,” said the president of the Corrections Officers Benevolent Association (COBA), Benny Boscio.
Boscio added that he is with the Executive Board accompanying the officer in the hospital, detailing that he is conscious and undergoing tests, reported ABC7 NY.
“I want to thank Mayor Adams and Commissioner Molina for also visiting the officer tonight,” concluded Boscio.
Fredericks was arrested in November of 2021 after allegedly fatally shooting his pregnant girlfriend in the neck, which led to a brief chase and an accident.
At the time of his arrest, Fredericks was on parole after receiving a three-year sentence in 2014 for conspiracy related to a previous firearms arrest, the Daily News reported.
The stabbing occurred the same day as a man from 26 years he was detained in Rikers was found dead from an alleged drug overdose, the death number being 18 in the New York City prison system in 2021.