ATTICA, N.Y. (WROC) — An officer at the Attica Correctional Facility is recovering after an inmate stabbed him multiple times in the chest with what investigators call a “metal shank.”
According to investigators, the officer was letting an inmate out of his cell to receive medication Friday morning when the inmate attacked. Investigators say the inmate grabbed the officer’s arm and stabbed him three times in the upper left chest.
The officer fell backwards and called for help. Two other officers arrived and confronted the inmate, who had backed into his cell with metal weapons in both hands. Investigators say the responding officers ordered him to drop the weapons, which he did. The officers then “applied restraints on the assailant.”
Investigators said they later found a 5.5 inch brass or copper tube sharpened to a point, and a 14.5 inch rusted and jagged piece of metal in the inmate’s cell.
The officer was evaluated by medical staff at the facility, then taken to Erie County Medical Center. Investigators say two pens in his shirt pocket had gouge marks on them, having taken some of the blows during the attack. The officer has not been able to return to work.
“If it wasn’t for a couple random pens in this officer’s pocket, his injuries would have been much more severe,” NYSCOPBA Western Region Vice President Mark DeBurgomaster said in a statement issued Monday.
The inmate investigators say was involved in the attack has not been publicly identified. They said he was serving a life sentence on murder and assault charges for an attempted robbery in Suffolk County in 1998. He is being held pending additional charges.