HUDSON – Three officers
were injured at Hudson Correctional Facility last Tuesday afternoon when
a 17-year-old inmate refused to comply with orders from an officer and
attacked him in the gymnasium, according to the union representing the
officers.
Ulyse Lugo is serving a three-year sentence after being convicted in Bronx
County this year for attempted criminal possession of a weapon.
The assault occurred at 1 p.m. on March 7 at the medium security prison,
as reported by the New York State Correctional Officers Police Benevolent
Association.
As inmates were being escorted into the gym, an officer noticed inmate
Lugo was wearing a knit cap, which is not allowed in the gym. The officer
ordered him to remove it, but Lugo refused and became unruly and aggressive.
The officer ordered the inmate against the wall to be frisked, but Lugo
refused. As the officer approached, Lugo violently pushed the officer
in the officer in the upper body, the union reported.
That officer attempted to restrain Lugo with the aid of a second officer
who had come to the scene. Lugo struggled with both officers. A response
team arrived and attempted to gain control of the inmate as he continued
to fight. Several officers were able to subdue Lugo and get him in restraints.
Two officers were taken to Columbia Memorial Hospital in Hudson for treatment.
One officer sustained a broken ankle. A second officer sustained a laceration
to his elbow and bruised ribs. The third officer sustained a minor injury
to his knee, back and hand. All three officers did not return to duty.
Lugo was transferred to Coxsackie Correctional Facility.
Lugo was arrested in 2016 following a joint investigation by the Bronx
District Attorney’s Office and NYPD in which 40 alleged gang members
were indicted for a series of violent acts dating back to 2012.
The crimes included four murders, five stabbings and several shootings
and armed robberies. The DA described the gang as the largest Blood set
on the East Coast.
“On the same day as the governor issues a press release on ‘Raise
the Age’ and implies that 16- and 17-year-old convicted felons are
being abused by prison staff, three of our members were injured in a violent
attack by a 17-year-old alleged gang member,” said Michael Mazzella,
Mid-Hudson regional vice president of the corrections officers union.
“I would argue that inmate Lugo, who was arrested as part of a large
takedown of a violent gang in the Bronx, does not fit that category. The
fact is our members are getting attacked at a historic rate and deserve
support, not the convicted criminals,” said Mazzella.
