A Bronx judge lashed into prison guards and the union representing them Thursday for staging a Rikers Island work stoppage that prevented an inmate from testifying against two jail guards on trial for beating him — virtually shutting down courtrooms citywide for the better part of two days.
“Our judicial system will not be held hostage!” bellowed Bronx Supreme Court Justice George Villegas, before he finally called that inmate to give his long-awaited testimony.
“On Monday, Nov. 18, and on Tuesday, Nov. 19, our system of justice was under attack by outside forces . . . If the motivation of the outside forces was to attack or intimidate or coerce, the mission failed.”
The angry judge referred to a work stoppage that kept prison buses from rolling, which sources have said was ordered by the correction officers union to make sure Dapree Peterson, 23, didn’t reach court to testify against jail guards Kevin Gilkes, 48, and Louis Pinto, 30, as scheduled on Nov. 18.
City lawyers filed a lawsuit against the union last month, calling the action an “illegal” strike.
“If the events of those two dark days of November are repeated, I will direct the people to make all inquiries and I will take action to preserve the integrity of our criminal-justice system,” Villegas said, just before calmly calling Peterson to the stand.
“The New York City Department of Correction buses will arrive at the appointed hour!”
Peterson — currently incarcerated on charges he robbed and slashed a subway rider — walked into the courtroom carrying a James Patterson novel.
He described how when Gilkes drove him from his Staten Island arraignment to Rikers Island in 2011 the guard told him, “Shut the f–k up” when Peterson asked for his handcuffs to be adjusted.
Once at the prison, he said, the guard pushed him into a cell, then said, “Now turn around. I’m gonna punch you in the face.”
Peterson said he turned slightly to say, “You’re not gonna punch nothing.”
Gilkes then punched Peterson in the face, the inmate testified.
“I actually felt dazed,” Peterson said. “I didn’t understand why he punched me. I never verbally threatened him. I never said I was gonna do anything to him.”
Eric Eichenholtz, chief of the city Law Department’s labor division, said of the work stoppage, “The City and its Department of Correction does not condone the correction officers’ conduct.
“We have brought an action seeking to declare that the union and the officers involved in this action violated the Taylor Law by engaging in an unlawful work stoppage.”
A Correction Officers’ Benevolent Association spokesman did not respond to a request for comment, and union head Norman Seabrook didn’t return a message seeking comment.