Inmate: I was starved
A BROOKLYN MAN and former Rikers Island inmate is suing seven city correction officers, saying they starved him in a solitary cell for two days and broke his arm when they took him out.
Inmate Marc Lazarre, 32, accuses the group of using excessive force during the incident inside the Otis Bantum Correctional Center on Sept. 23, 2010.
The Canarsie man says he was placed in solitary confinement — for unknown reasons — where he was given a phone once a week.
But the phone wasn’t working, Lazarre said, so he refused to give it back to officers until it was fixed or a new one was handed over.
That infuriated the officers, who then denied him food and water for two days, the suit says.
“I feared for my life,” Lazarre said Tuesday outside Bronx Supreme Court before the start of the civil trial was delayed. “I was starving. I was dehydrated. I was weak and dizzy.”
He disconnected the sprinkler on the roof of his cell to get water, said his lawyer, Seth Harris.
The department then sent in a probe armed with batons and shields to forcibly remove him from the cell. During that violent encounter, Lazarre suffered a fracture of his left arm, according to the suit.
“It was extremely terrifying,” Lazarre said. “I still don’t have full range of motion.” Lazarre (photo), who works in construction, was jailed on charges of credit card theft.
He’s seeking unspecified damages for pain and suffering and a host of other violations.
The officers were never criminally charged and all appear to still be on the force. They are: Capt. Winston Declet and correction officers Barbara Lacrete, Ulysses Barksdale, Michael Medina, Michael McLaughlin, Clarence Dupree and Frank Tatulli.
Declet was named a defendant in at least five other lawsuits for the use of excessive force and intimidation of inmates, court documents show.
McLaughlin, the officer who allegedly broke Lazarre’s arm, has been named in at least three similar cases.
In court, a lawyer for the officers and the city Department of Correction declined to comment.