Ricardo Cruciani, a doctor was convicted last month of sexually assaulting several of his patientswas found dead on suspicion of suicide at the Rikers Island prison complex on Monday morning.
Cruciani, a 68-year-old neurologist who treats chronic pain, was found early Monday morning sitting in the prison’s shower area with a towel wrapped around his neck, according to prison documents The New York Times obtained. Soon after, the medical staff came to take care of him. He died about an hour after being discovered, the documents show.
His death came about two weeks after a jury found him guilty of 12 counts of predatory sexual assault, sexual abuse, rape and other counts, stemming from his treatment of six patient he had seen circa 2012.
Mr. Cruciani is being held in a dormitory dormitory at the Eric M. Taylor Center, which has a staff shortage, according to an official familiar with what happened, who spoke on condition of anonymity. this problem without permission.
A second official said Cruciani entered the shower area at 4:23 a.m. and was found unresponsive by staff monitoring the housing area at 5:35 a.m. Officials are expected to visit the area every 30 minutes, but it is unclear whether that will happen, the official said.
The Eric M. Taylor Center has become increasingly chaotic since it became a new admissions facility, staff and detainees campaigners said. Detainees at the center have complained of overcrowding in its cells and delayed access to medical care and medicine, or not at all.
In a statement, New York City Department of Corrections commissioner, Louis A. Molina, said he was “deeply saddened to learn of this person’s passing.”
“We will conduct a preliminary internal review to determine the circumstances surrounding his death,” he said in Cruciani’s unidentified statement. “Our thoughts and prayers go out to his loved ones.”
Cruciani’s attorney, Elizabeth Edwards Macedonio, said she had just learned of his death and declined to comment when contacted by phone Monday morning. Lawyers for Cruciani’s trial, who planned to appeal the verdict, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Cruciani is the 12th person to have died this year while incarcerated in the city’s prison or shortly after his release.
William K. Rashbaum and Troy Closson contribution report.
