Union says officer's fingertip bitten off in attack at Collins Correctional Facility

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) -- The New York State Correctional Officers & Police Benevolent Association says part of an officer's finger was bitten off in an alleged assault at Collins Correctional Facility last week.

NYSCOPBA says three incidents of assault occurred on June 12. In the instance where they said a correction officer's finger was bitten off, a total of seven officers were allegedly injured, according to the union.

Officers were finishing a search of a cell at the medium-security facility when they said they ordered the 28-year-old inmate back in. According to NYSCOPA, he refused.

They said he pulled away when first approached by staff and as a result, three officers grabbed him in a body hold and forced him to the floor.

The union said that while the inmate was on the ground, he was "extremely combative." According to them, he punched one officer in the face, kicked one in the groin, and bit another "at the tip of his left ring finger, severing his finger."

As more staff arrived, NYSCOPBA said officers struggled to get the inmate under control. They said an officer noticed a metal object, later determined to be a set of nail clippers, in his hand but forced it out.

The officer whose finger was bitten off and the one who was kicked in the groin were taken to outside medical facilities, but the other five injured officers remained on duty, the NYSCOPBA said.

According to the union, the inmate had been convicted of assault in Queens County last year and is serving a three-year prison sentence.