New York City Corrections Officer Charlie Bracey was cleared of wrongdoing after almost losing his job for allegedly failing to react quickly enough in breaking up a near-deadly assault between two inmates at Rikers Island.
Bracey attempted to pull detainee Jorge Gutierrez off of fellow detainee Sean McDermott in November 2019. Gutierrez allegedly bashed the victim’s head against a metal railing 185 times for a minute and 17 seconds until the corrections officer intervened. The injured inmate spent three weeks in intensive care at the hospital.
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The city paid McDermott $9 million in a settlement where he alleged the officer did not stop the attack until he was unconscious and had severe injuries.
Bracey’s attorney David Kirsch blamed staffing shortages for the response time during the incident.
“We had a staffing shortage and I don’t think anyone realized how bad it was. People were resigning or retiring and there was a period where no classes went into the academy to replace them,” Bracey reportedly said at the trial. “It was becoming a regular situation… The supervisors, at this point, were playing the odds.”
The corrections officer did not face disciplinary charges until a year after the incident.
Bracey, a father and husband, said in an interview that the situation was “very stressful” for his family.
“I’m the single breadwinner for my family. My wife had to give up her career in education to take care of my daughter. So, it was very stressful. You think you are about to lose your livelihood,” he reportedly said.
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Judge Jonathan Fogel recommended the administrative charges against Bracey be dismissed in late December and the Corrections Commissioner Louis Molina signed off on the judge’s decision in early February.
