BRONX, NY – Bronx District Attorney Darcel D. Clark announced today the indictment of Claude White, a 24-year-old Rikers Island inmate, for Attempted Murder and other charges. White is accused of stabbing a mental health clinician with a makeshift dagger while inside the George R. Vierno Center on Rikers Island.
The incident occurred on July 29, when the victim was interviewing a client/detainee in the Mental Observation Unit. White allegedly approached from behind and stabbed the clinician with a sharpened piece of metal. NYC Department of Correction Officers quickly detained White, and the victim was rushed to a nearby hospital. He sustained two puncture wounds to his face, one puncture wound to his arm, and blunt force injuries to his chest.
District Attorney Clark stated that this was a “brutal attack on someone who helps people with mental health issues.”
White, who hails from the Bronx, was arraigned today on charges including Attempted Murder in the second degree, Attempted Assault in the first degree, three counts of second-degree Assault, first-degree Promoting Prison Contraband, and fourth-degree Criminal Possession of a Weapon. Bronx Supreme Court Justice Beth Beller presided over the arraignment, and White was remanded. He is due back in court on October 12.
At the time of the incident, White was already remanded for the fatal stabbing of a man on a 4 train in Manhattan on June 19.