By Ivan Pereira
Investigators were trying to determine how a suspected Ozone Park burglar who was remanded to Rikers Island died while in custody Saturday night.
While incarcerated at Rikers following two arrests involving incidents in Queens, Clarence Mobley allegedly threw a meal tray at a correction officer who “subdued” him in self−defense, according to Stephen J. Morello, the deputy commissioner for the city Department of Correction. Mobley, 60, died a short time later before he was set to be examined by Rikers’s medical staff, according to the department.
The commissioner said Mobley was separated from the rest of the inmates after he was subdued and was left alone for a short period of time. Morello said Mobley was “unresponsive” and “not dead at the time” when the guards returned. Doctors were unable to revive him, according to the commissioner.
The city medical examiner’s office said Mobley, whose last known residence was in South Carolina, died from a “laceration to the liver caused by trauma to his torso.” It was not determined as of press time Tuesday what caused the trauma that killed the inmate, said Ellen Borakove, a spokeswoman for the medical examiner.
Morello said the Bronx district attorney’s office, the NYPD and city Department of Investigation were going to look into the incident and the Correction Department was cooperating. The correction officer who was reportedly assaulted by the inmate suffered minor injuries, according to Morello.
Mobley had a history of volatile behavior, according to criminal court papers.
On April 29, he was arraigned for disorderly conduct for jumping up and down on top of an SUV ‘near 22nd Avenue and 19th Street in Astoria shortly after midnight, the criminal complaint said. He was released on his own recognizance, according to the Queens DA’s office.
Last Thursday, Mobley was arrested and arraigned on charges of attempted burglary, criminal trespassing and possession of a burglar’s tools, the DA’s office said. Mobley allegedly tried to break into an apartment above a beauty salon on 101st Avenue with a screwdriver, according to the criminal complaint.
A Queens judge remanded Mobley without bail and ordered him to undergo a psychiatric examination, a spokesman for the Queens DA’s office said. The incarcerated man was not examined by a psychiatrist before his death, Morello said.
Reach reporter Ivan Pereira by e−mail at ipereira@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718−229−0300, Ext. 146.
