BRUTE GUARD

A SADISTIC correctional officer who is under investigation for allegedly waterboarding inmates and savagely beating their genitals is also accused of leaving another prisoner partially blind after punching him in the face while he was handcuffed.

Lt. Troy Mitchell, who has cost the state nearly $900,000 in legal payouts over harassment and assault allegations, choked inmate Waddell Smith, pummeled him in the face and sprayed a full can of Mace into his mouth and eyes, a lawsuit charges.

The bloody Aug. 18, 2017, assault at the Auburn Correctional Facility happened while Smith was being held down on the ground, according to the lawsuit filed in the state Court of Claims in November. Smith’s attorney alerted the Daily News to the lawsuit after reading Monday’s horrifying front-page story about Mitchell, 54, being accused of torturing other inmates at Auburn — even though the Department of Correctional Services had been warned about his barbaric behavior. “If the Department of Correctional Services had seriously looked at his prior allegations of misconduct, this incident never would have happened,” Smith’s lawyer, Andrew Plasse, said. Mitchell was suspended without pay in August after two inmates made identical claims that he and other officers waterboarded them and whacked them in the genitals with a baton, court documents show.

One inmate, Matthew Raymond, was beaten so savagely that he needs a catheter to urinate, according to court documents his lawyer has recently filed.

Correctional Services had been warned in the past about Mitchell — by a female officer who served with him at Auburn and accused him of sexual harassment.

Penny Collins received a $787,837 judgment against the state as well as $150,000 in back pay in 2012 after suing Correctional Services, Mitchell and other officers five years earlier.

The alleged assault against Smith began when he was on contraband watch in an isolation cell of the prison’s medical wing.

Smith — who has been in prison since 2000 and is serving 22 years to life for robbery and criminal possession of a weapon — was ordered to stand in a corner of the room while Mitchell and other officers searched the cell.

Mitchell suddenly rushed over and started choking Smith, according to Smith’s initial written complaint about the incident.

The complaint says that Mitchell also sprayed Smith with Mace while officers choked, kicked and punched him.

Smith said he really began to panic when Mitchell ordered officers to lift him on his feet. “As they (stood me up), I tried to walk out of the room in fear of being killed,” he wrote. “Mitchell pulled me by my hair and yanked me back into the room and began punching me in the face.”

Smith said doctors didn’t examine and treat his damaged left eye until four days after the assault. He still suffers vision loss.

“The investigation into an incident with Mr. Smith is ongoing,” said Correctional Services spokesman Thomas Mailey. Mitchell could not be reached for comment.