Queens wife slay suspect Ovidio Porras, 86, becomes victim of Rikers violence; in Bellevue Hospital ICU as case delayed

An 86-year-old Queens man accused of murdering his wife was involved in a “use of force” by correction officers and handcuffed to a chair in a Rikers Island cell for four hours — and on Wednesday remained hospitalized with a dangerous and potentially deadly blood clot, authorities said.

Correction officials are accused by a federal court monitor of covering up the May 20 incident involving Ovidio Porras, who is accused of killing his 78-year-old wife, Luz Porras, by shoving her down a stairway in their Woodhaven home.

At a hearing Wednesday in Queens Criminal Court, lawyers and a judge struggled with trying to figure out how his homicide case should proceed.

Porras wants to testify to a Queens grand jury — but his lawyer, David Strachan Jr., said his medical condition prevents him from appearing in person.

“He’s not going anywhere,” Strachan told a judge. “He’s 86 and he has an extremely serious medical condition.”

In the end, an arrangement was reached that Porras would testify Friday from his medical bed in Bellevue on video.

Porras’ treatment by correction officers and officials at Rikers Island was one of five cases of city jail violence correction officials were accused of covering up in a report issued Friday by federal court monitor Steve Martin and his staff.

The homicide occurred May 17, police said. Porras was arrested May 19, and arraigned that night in Queens Criminal Court.

At arraignment, Judge Diego Freire ordered the 140-pound Porras held without bail, but directed the Correction Department to give him proper medical attention and hold him in protective custody specifically because of his frail health.

As he underwent the Rikers admissions process at the Eric M. Taylor Center on May 20, Porras got involved in a “use of force” involving correction officers in a medical clinic, says Martin’s report. It is not clear from the report what the use of force involved, and the Correction Department denies Porras was roughed up.

“Porras refused multiple instructions to leave the clinic area for more than 10 minutes,” the department said in a statement.

For about 10 minutes, Porras laid on the ground, the report says. The Correction Department said he “refused further instructions to stand and leave the area.”

Two staff members lifted Porras by his shoulders and put him in a wheelchair. As Porras resisted, “staff pushed him into the chair, then pulled and twisted his arms for approximately 30 seconds to place him into rear mechanical restraints,” the report says.

The department said the process of handcuffing and putting Porras in the wheelchair was conducted “per standard training protocols.”

“[V]ideo shows that the individual was rear-cuffed and placed in a small pen without a sink or toilet, where he remained for about four hours in mechanical restraints secured behind his back,” says the monitor’s report. That is a punitive tactic Rikers detainees and officers call the “Why Me” treatment.

“During that time, an Associate Commissioner interacted with the individual briefly, but did not appear to take action regarding his condition and his potentially unnecessary continued mechanical restraint,” says the monitor’s report. It did not name the associate correction commissioner who saw Porras.

Porras was then sent to a Rikers mental health unit where he stayed overnight, and developed the blood clot. He was then taken to the Bellevue Hospital ICU unit, where he remained on Wednesday.

Martin and his staff learned about the incident four days later from an outside source, the report says. It was another two days before the department obtained video of the incident, which was provided to the monitor.

Court transcripts show the Correction Department also seems not to have given much information to two Queens judges or prosecutors with the Queens DA’s office about what happened to Porras.

Four days after he was injured, on May 24, Porras’ case was called in Queens Criminal Court before Judge Kim Petersen to allow him to testify before a grand jury.

But Porras was not brought to court. Petersen asked court officers and correction staff why.

“That is the information that was provided to me from Department of Corrections. Medically unfit, unable to appear from the doctor, that’s the only information,” Petersen said, setting another hearing two days later.

A new judge, Jeffrey Gershuny, presided over a follow-up hearing May 26 and was concerned about speedy trial rules. “Where is he? What hospital?” the judge asked.

“He’s in Bellevue Hospital prison ward. Actually in the ICU,” Porras’ lawyer David Strachan Jr. said.

On Wednesday, the severity of Porras’ injuries caused his grand jury testimony to be delayed a third time.

The Queens DA’s office declined to answer questions about whether the office checked into why Porras was not in court.