By Reuven Blau
The New York Daily News
NEW YORK — Police are investigating the death of an inmate after a clash with a correction officer on Rikers Island.
Angel Ramirez, 49, was rushed to Elmhurst Hospital Center after he was punched by Correction Officer William Rodriguez at 4:30 a.m. on July 17. Ramirez died a few hours later, authorities said.
The medical examiner’s office ruled the inmate died of “blunt impact injuries to the torso” that caused internal injuries, spokeswoman Ellen Borakove said.
Ramirez’s chronic liver disease — due to alcohol abuse and hepatitis C from drug use — was a “significant contributing condition” in his death, she added.
Authorities said Ramirez was awaiting trial on drug charges and endangering the welfare of a child when he died. His relatives couldn’t be reached Monday.
Jail sources said the fight broke out after Ramirez, who was detoxing from drug and alcohol abuse, demanded to be removed from the housing dormitory. The irate inmate slugged Officer Rodriguez in the face, a source told the Daily News. “He was very uptight and irrational detoxing from drug and alcohol abuse,” a supervisor in the unit told The News.
Rodriguez told supervisors that he struck back, punching Ramirez once in the gut. Ramirez fell to the ground, sources said. Several inmates corroborated the jailer’s account, according to two jail supervisors.
The correction officer involved in the fracas has been transferred from the Anna M. Cross Center, the jail where the incident occurred. Rodriguez, who now works at another jail, has been with the city’s Correction Department for 3-1/2 years.
The case has been referred to detectives from the NYPD’s 41st Precinct in the Bronx.
Republished with permission from The New York Daily News