Seven officers sustain smoke inhalation after inmate sets cell on fire
For Immediate Release
January 28, 2022
Attica , NY – A 36 year old inmate, who was already being housed in a Special Housing Unit for disciplinary measures, set his mattress and other personal items on fire inside his cell and fought with officers who attempted to extract him from the cell and extinguish the fire.
The incident occurred on Monday, January 24. The inmate was irate and yelling at officers threating to set the cell on fire. He was yelling at the officers, attempting to get them to come into the cell to fight him. He proceeded to set his sheets, clothes and mattress on fire. Staff gave him several orders which he ignored. He barricaded the cell door with the burning mattress. One officer attempted to extinguish the fire with a fire extinguisher but was unsuccessful.
Supervisors determined that officers needed to enter the cell to extract the inmate and extinguish the fire.
Staff entered the cell and the inmate fought with officers, who attempted to get him into restraints and removed from the cell for his safety. Officers were able to finally get the combative inmate into handcuffs and removed him from the burning cell.
Once everyone was out of the cell, the fire was extinguished.
The inmate was brought to the infirmary and evaluated by medical staff. He is serving a 7 to 15 year sentence after being convicted in Wayne County in 2017 for three counts of Burglary 3rd and one count of Attempted Burglary 3rd.
Six officers and one sergeant sustained smoke inhalation that consisted of burning sensation to throats, lungs and chests, and needed to be treated at Wyoming County Community Health Hospital. One of the six officers also sustained a laceration to his left eyebrow that needed five stitches to close and a laceration under the left eye. In addition to the smoke inhalation, the sergeant and five other officers sustained minor abrasions, pain and swelling to wrists and back. They did not return to duty.
All the injuries occurred when they extracted the inmate from the cell and he fought with staff.
“This inmate clearly had intentions of hurting staff regardless of the fact he was already in a Special Housing Unit for unrelated disciplinary measures. He attempted to bait the officers into coming into the cell so he could attack them and set his cell on fire, so they had no choice but to enter his cell to extract him for his own safety. These are the daily situations our members have to face, the ones that our elected officials fail to recognize as they continue to push watered down discipline like HALT. The current disciplinary system in its form, fails to keep staff safe. Assaults on staff are at record levels and will only get worse when HALT is implemented. All this serves is to make their jobs more difficult and undermine morale, which is already at an all-time low. ” – stated Kenny Gold , NYSCOPBA Western Region Vice President.