Video: Rikers Guards Ignored Dying Man

A video obtained by The New York Times shows corrections officers at Rikers Island ignoring an ailing diabetic inmate, and even stepping over him after he collapsed. The video is the latest in a series of damning revelations about the death of Carlos Mercado, 45, who died 15 hours after being taken to the jail in 2013 for selling an undercover cop a small bag of heroin. In the video, Mercado lies on the floor for three minutes while corrections officers step over him before attending to him. “Nobody should have to die like that,” his sister told The Daily News last week. “All he was asking for was his medicine. That’s all he needed. He would be here today.”