Rikers Prison Guard sips coffee as prisoner convulses

Wickenson DeMaitre, 47, a prison guard at the infamous Rikers Island, New York City jail complex has been criminally charged after it is alleged that he sipped coffee while ignoring the pleas of Victor Woods who began convulsing in pain in October 2014.

From a lawsuit filed by Wood’s family members against the city states,

“Surveillance footage shows Woods “writhing in apparent agony and then dying as a DOC corrections officer [DeMaitre] looks on while drinking from what appears to be a coffee cup,”

The DOI report says another correction officer called for medical help while other prisoners assisted the dying man before DeMaitre walked over to Woods.

DeMaitre has been charged with multiple counts of offering a false instrument for filing and faces up to four years behind bars on the top count. This stems from the false report he filed that he was assisting Woods which was inconsistent with the video of the incident.

The city medical examiner ruled that Woods died of a gastrointestinal hemorrhage.