Dennis Applewhite, 29 – who was locked away on a murder charge – went up to the 28-year-old officer and stabbed him in the back of the head with an eight-inch piece of sharpened metal inside the Anna M. Cross Center around 4:45 p.m. Oct. 31, according to the Bronx District Attorney’s Office.
Dennis Applewhite, 29, pleaded guilty Feb. 7 to a charge of attempted assault in the first degree for the unprovoked attack on the officer on Halloween last year in a protective custody unit in the Anna M. Kross Center on Rikers Island.
All who read this newspaper are painfully aware that amid mayhem on Rikers Island: 16 people died in custody last year and 18 have perished in the first 10 months of 2022. Too few appreciate that correction officers often also suffer terribly, casualties of many of the same chaotic forces that have led us and others to conclude that only a federal court receiver can make the profound cultural and bureaucratic changes necessary to right the ship.
Correction Officers Benevolent Association President Benny Boscio said the results of the proposed solitary confinement ban would be similar to “a rapist going back on the streets four hours” after committing their crime. He said 1,500 officers have been attacked since January.