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.”
