Four Rikers Island staffers were suspended from their jobs in the fallout over the death of a detainee believed to have suffered a drug overdose, Correction Department sources said Thursday.
Two correction officers were suspended on accusations of failing to act quickly enough to save the life of burglary suspect Felix Taveras, 40.
The other suspended staffers were an acting warden who initially decided one of the correction officers should not have been suspended, and a correction captain accused of not touring the unit in the hours before Taveras fell ill.
One of the two suspended correction officers was assigned late Monday to the “bubble,” or security booth, in the housing area at the Anna M. Kross Center where Taveras complained he was experiencing chest pains.
The second officer, who was assigned to walk the unit, allegedly took 20 minutes to seek medical help for Taveras — and waited another 15 minutes for medical staff to arrive before taking Taveras to the Kross Center’s clinic himself.
Taveras was unconscious at the medical clinic. He died early Tuesday morning at Elmhurst Hospital.
Officials did not release the identities of the two suspended correction officers, or of the suspended captain.
The Kross Center’s acting warden, Deputy Warden-in-Charge Charisma Carter, was accused of failing to suspend the correction officer assigned to walk Taveras’ housing unit, and delaying seeking his treatment, said the sources.
Carter’s decision not to suspend the correction officer was overruled by senior Correction Department leadership. She was then suspended for “poor decision-making and unawareness of the facts,” said the sources.
Joseph Russo, president of the Assistant Deputy Wardens-Deputy Wardens Association, said Carter’s suspension was a major break from past practice. Usually, if there was a disagreement on discipline, Correction Department leaders would merely order the commander to make the suspensions.
“The discipline for acting warden…
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