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The man who was caught on viral video jumping from elevated Brooklyn subway tracks whereas fleeing cops mentioned Monday that he made the harmful leap as a result of he was petrified of going again to Rikers Island.
“When I made that soar it was like ‘rattling both return to Rikers Island or threat your life taking that soar’ and that soar might’ve been dying if I missed,” Kendall Floyd, 25, instructed The Post by cellphone from the infamous jail complicated, the place he’s been since his arrest on July 6.
“I used to be keen to threat my life than to return again right here and now that I’m right here, it’s worse than it’s ever been.”
The remarks come after a $25 million wrongful dying discover of declare was filed Friday towards the Department of Correction, which has seen a nearly 60% increase in deaths in-custody to date this yr in comparison with 2021.
The declare, filed by the household of Elijah Muhammad after he died from a suspected drug overdose last Sunday, alleges the division’s harmful setting led to the detainee’s dying and correction officers equipped the medicine that killed him.
In the hours earlier than Muhammad died, correction officers assigned to his housing unit noticed that he “seemed to be disoriented and barely capable of stroll and that he wanted medical consideration,” the declare alleges.
Instead, Muhammad “was left to die in his cell” and had been useless for thus lengthy earlier than correction officers discovered him, rigor mortis had already began to set in, the declare states.
“You might die on Rikers Island simply at any level,” mentioned Floyd, who’s at present locked up on the jail’s squalid intake unit at the Eric M. Taylor Center.
When he was on Rikers Island between July and November final yr for assault expenses, Floyd identified four detainees died in less than six weeks.
“It’s unhealthy, it’s actual unhealthy. There’s barely any workers so if I had been to get right into a scenario, nobody would come and assist me,” mentioned Floyd.
“My worst concern was to finish up again on Rikers Island.”
Floyd, who’s been hooked on painkillers since his mother died two years in the past, was in a cab with some buddies once they had been pulled over in Williamsburg close to Humboldt and Debevoise streets round 4 p.m. on July 6.
At the time, Floyd had simply taken three percocet drugs and when he unintentionally instructed one of many officers he was born in 2018, he took off operating, understanding they’d run his title and see he had open warrants out for his arrest.
“Once I mentioned that my physique went into shock mode as a result of I knew I f–ked up and I used to be like what the f–ok so after that I simply ran out the automobile, simply began operating, operating, operating,” Floyd recalled.
“I see the prepare, I begin climbing up the prepare. While I’m climbing the prepare, the officer is yelling ‘Stop climbing earlier than I shoot you down,” Floyd alleged, including the officer both had a taser or a gun pointed at him.
As Floyd stored operating alongside the above floor subway tracks, he noticed the group of officers converging on him beneath and figured his solely probability to get away was to leap to the constructing throughout the road.
“The solely factor I’m eager about is Rikers Island, the situations of it. I did all of that to keep away from coming again right here,” Floyd defined.
At the time, Floyd had a warrant out for his arrest for skipping out on a court-ordered drug rehab program after he suffered a relapse when he briefly broke up together with his highschool sweetheart and the mom of his seven-month-old son, Kingsley.
He was hit with a slew of expenses from the incident, together with assault on an officer as a result of he unintentionally clipped one of many cops within the arm with the door of the cab as he burst out and ran, his legal professional claimed beforehand.
During his arraignment, a Brooklyn choose set a $90,000 bail or $180,000 bond within the case, citing Floyd’s past failures to appear in court, the severity of the costs and his different open assault and housebreaking instances.
But Floyd insists he’s an addict who wants the steadiness of an in-patient drug rehab program to get clear and get his life collectively.
While on Rikers Island, which noticed at the least 4 suspected overdoses final week, two of them deadly, Floyd mentioned that isn’t doable as a result of the jail is “full” of medicine and he has easy accessibility to narcotics.
“I need to go right into a six month drug program as a result of on the finish of the day, I’m hooked on medicine,” mentioned Floyd.
“I need to get the six months over with for my son as a result of at this level, it’s greater than me.”
