Three correction officers who watched a man bleed to death on Rikers Island for 10 minutes without helping were found to have contributed to his death, but their inaction did not rise to criminally negligent homicide, a state investigation found.
The report issued Tuesday by the New York Attorney General Letitia James’ Office of Special Investigation concluded that when correction officers observed Michael Nieves, 40, bleeding from his neck, they dropped a shirt and blanket at his feet, but made no effort to apply pressure to stop the bleeding.
“Although the correction officers’ failure to render aid to Mr. Nieves contributed to his death, a prosecutor would not be able to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the correction officers’ failure to aid Mr. Nieves caused his death,” the report said.
Nieves suffered from mental illness and his 2022 suicide came during a year when 22 people died on Rikers, according to the city comptroller’s dashboard. His death also occurred during a staffing crisis — less than a fifth of correction officers had completed the mandated suicide prevention course that year.
Long-standing neglect and mismanagement at the troubled jail includes sexual assaults and failure to get people to court and medical care.
The three correction officers who watched Nieves bleed to death were Capt. Mary Tinsley, Officer Beethoven Joseph and Officer Jeron Smith, according to the report. All three were trained by the city’s Department of Correction to provide first aid and required to provide it. All three declined to speak with investigators.
A spokesperson for the correction officers’ union did not immediately return messages.
According to the attorney general’s report, criminal charges can be brought when a person “causes the death of another person.” However, Medical Examiner Dr. Kristen Landi told investigators that Nieves required emergency surgery and that applying pressure would have only slowed the bleeding until he was taken to a hospital.
Landi concluded that staff inaction was only partly to blame for Nieves’ death. The attorney general’s office said a prosecutor wouldn’t be able to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that they caused his death.
The attorney general recommended the Department of Correction amend its rules to require officers to help incarcerated people who are bleeding without waiting for medical staff.
“Although we cannot know what was in the minds of the officers,” the report said, “the lack of clarity in their training and in the rules may well have been a factor in their failure to render immediate aid to Mr. Nieves, which, in turn, contributed to his death.”