Massive Rikers Island Brawl Over Grilled Cheese Lasted Almost an Hour


A jailhouse brawl earlier this month went on for way too long and injured at least eleven inmates and one officer, resulting in additional punishment for 32 prisoners. "They're tossing chairs at each other, they have brooms, they have all kinds of weapons, and we're outnumbered," said Correction Officers Benevolent Association president Norman Seabrook. "We don't have the staff to break it up. The officers certainly can't go in there with just three officers against 60 inmates ... The only thing they could possibly do at this point is watch." ABC 7 has video.

According to the Daily News, it started over a grilled cheese: "Members of the Trinitarians, a Dominican gang, were upset their rival Crips were not letting them use a hot plate to cook the snack."

The Village Voice reported earlier that one inmate "had a broken broom handle jammed into his eye socket, and two other inmates were slashed in the incident ... A fourth inmate was punctured with a shank, possibly a repurposed kitchen knife." (Photos of the aftermath are graphic.) After nearly an hour, some prisoners "were bleeding so badly that the combatants actually called a truce and allowed them to leave the battleground."