Inmate’s medical battles
Demand for wheelchair stirred insults & delays
A city jail inmate is locked in a 3½-year fight with correction officials over a wheelchair.
Rasaun Bullock, 42, says a spinal injury makes it impossible for him to walk on his own, and he has refused to come to court without a wheelchair.
City doctors initially concluded that he’s faking — a diagnosis that has emboldened jail officers loath to give any inmate special treatment.
Inmate advocates say Bullock’s case is an example of how detainees with complex medical needs and mental health issues get stuck for years in an ill-equipped criminal justice system.
“Officers called him full of s--- daily,” recalled one former clinician. “He would be begging on the floor. It was sad to watch.”
Bullock, who is currently at Manhattan Detention Complex facing a drug charge, refused to go to court without a wheelchair at least 12 times, totally stalling his case. He has also fired three lawyers.
In a bizarre outcome, his case has dragged on so long prosecutors say he’s free to go if he just shows up and pleads guilty.
“It’s almost like he wants to stay,” one law-enforcement source familiar with his case said.
The de Blasio administration has made it a priority to speed along pending criminal cases as part of a major push to reduce the jail population, the first step in the plan to shut down Rikers.
There’s been a 43% drop in cases lasting three or more years over the past two years. The number has dropped from an average of 63 in 2016 to 38 in 2017, according to the Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice.
But Bullock’s case, and others, remain a challenge.
“It’s a tragedy any defendant’s case would take this long to get to trial,” said his lawyer, Adam Konta, noting he recently took on the case.
“This is absolutely an example of a defendant with issues … that were not correctly addressed,” he added. “The time to attack those failings are coming.”
Bullock’s saga began when he was arrested sitting near a cup filled with 26 bags of crack cocaine in front of a New York City Housing Authority building in Harlem on April 16, 2015, according to a criminal complaint.
Bullock maintains he’s innocent, arguing the drugs did not belong to him. He points out that he was sitting next to another person at the time who was never arrested.
Shortly after his arrest, a Bellevue Hospital forensic unit concluded that he suffers from “adjustment disorder with disturbance of conduct.”
The stress and feeling of hopelessness is tied to being in jail, medical staff determined.
After years of delays, his case is now scheduled for trial on Monday.
Last Thursday, jail officials finally relented and gave him a wheelchair as they transported him to court. That decision was based in part on a conflicting medical report that concluded Bullock actually does need a wheelchair.
During the court proceeding, Bullock ranted about how he wants to fire his current lawyer.
“I object!” he yelled at the start of the hearing in front of Manhattan Criminal Court Judge Curtis Farber.
“What’s going on?” Bullock asked. “I don’t know what has been going on. The district attorney warrants have not allowed me to come to court. For over 3½ years this case has been going on. I have not even been afforded my right of due process.”
Bullock has also repeatedly made serious allegations of abuse against multiple jail officers. He said jail officers gangraped him after a court appearance, locked him in a cell for days without food, and refused to let him shower or receive visits.
“They come in the middle of the night and beat me up in the cell,” he said during a phone interview last week. “It’s crazy what’s happening here.”
Jail insiders say none of the allegations have ever been substantiated.
A federal lawsuit he brought against the department was tossed in July, with the judge taking the unusual step to say that any appeal “would not be taken in good faith.”
Bullock has long had a fraught relationship with jail officers.
In 2008, he was charged with assaulting a correction officer. Five years later, he pleaded guilty to assault and received the equivalent of time served.
If he loses his upcoming criminal trial, he faces a minimum of six years in prison — more than double the 2½-year plea deal already on the table.
“We are making every effort to resolve the case,” said Kati Cornell, a spokeswoman for the Special Narcotics Office handling the case.