By C1 Staff
NEW YORK CITY — Eight corrections employees were injured after a brawl broke out Sunday morning at the Manhattan Detention Complex.
The Correction Officers Benevolent Association told ABC7 that a deputy warden, captain, and six correctional officers were involved in an unprovoked altercation with a mentally ill inmate.
According to PIX11, a deputy warden who was punched in the face was treated and returned to duty. The captain and six officers were taken to a local hospital for pepper spray exposure and other minor injuries.
“We have zero tolerance for assaults on the hardworking men and women who serve this city every day,” DOC Commissioner Joseph Ponte told PIX11.
Officials said the inmate allegedly lit a fire causing officers to go investigate.
A statement released by the Correction Officer’s Benevolent Association said the inmate who attacked the employees “is one of the thousands of mentally ill inmates dumped into our jail system.”
“How many more assaults on staff committed by inmates who require mental health treatment have to occur before the DOHMH intervenes and removes the mentally ill and puts them in mental health facilities instead of using Rikers Island and the City’s jails to house them,” the statement read.
An investigation is ongoing.