By Matt Gryta
The Buffalo News
BUFFALO, N.Y. — The injuries a veteran corrections officer suffered in subduing a convicted rapist in the mental health unit of the Wende Correctional Facility in Alden last week highlight the need for officers being provided more resources to deal with such situations, an official of the correctional officers union said Thursday.
The attack by inmate Richard Valle, 51, who was convicted of a Bronx rape in 2002, shows “the very real and dangerous” conditions officers face in mental health units, said Joe Miano, western regional vice president of the state Correctional Officers Police Benevolent Association.
At about 4:50 p.m. June 2, Valle “was acting strange” and ran into the mental health unit’s shower area with a bed sheet. A veteran officer went after him fearing Valle might try to harm himself, Miano said. Instead, Valle charged the officer and they began struggling. Valle managed to grab the officer’s baton and struck him on the head four times before the officer managed to subdue him until other officers arrived.
Miano said Valle, who had been scheduled for release from prison this fall but now faces additional prison time, has been transferred to another of the state’s maximum security facilities. Miano said the corrections officer was treated for a head laceration and shoulder and left knee pain and has been reassigned to another facility since the June 2 incident.
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