Officer Do Nothing

Stood by as Rikers 5 beat jailer

A Rikers guard appeared to do nothing while five inmates savaged his co-worker, breaking the correction officer’s neck and sending him to the hospital in serious condition, according to a video of the attack.

The guard just watches from behind a table as his compatriot is beaten to a pulp in at the George Motchan Detention Center at about 6:30 p.m. Saturday, the video of the incident shows.

Two other jail guards run in from another room to aid their colleague, the video, released Sunday, shows. The do-nothing guard’s apparent inaction shocked a law-enforcement source who said he should have stepped up to help his fellow jailer.

“It’s kind of surprising that a guy wouldn’t help. You’re not supposed to run away from danger,” the source said.

“When you took an oath, you sacrificed yourself. I’d be pissed if somebody left me out there like that. That’s terrible. There’s no reason to stand there for one second,” the source said.

Correction-officers union President Elias Husamudeen claimed the guard used his pepper spray, but he does not appear to do so in the video.

“I’m not gonna allow anyone to say my guys could have done more,” Husamudeen said Sunday.

It was one of the worst prison attacks in years, a jail source said.

Inmates Steven Espinal, Samson Walston, Eric Morris, Nazeem Francis and Devin Burns were arrested for the beatdown, according to the union.

Espinal allegedly started the fracas because of a beef with the guard, a 39-year-old with less than two years as a correction officer.

Espinal was even overheard threatening to sock the jailer be- fore the attack, according to Husamudeen.

“He was attacked because he’s one of my officers that actually goes in and does his job,” Husamudeen said. “He wrote this inmate a ticket.”

The victim and the thumb-twiddling guard were standing in a vestibule separating the day room and inmates’ cells when the attack went down.

Security footage (left) shows Espinal speed into the room and sucker-punch the 39-year-old, who goes down while the other four inmates rush in and pummel him with feet and fists.

His fellow guard dithers behind a tiny table while two other officers rush in to regain control.

Mayor de Blasio was briefed on the attack Saturday night. He spoke with the injured officer Sunday morning, spokesman Eric Phillips tweeted.