Convicted of civil rights violations, conspiring to falsify records.
Courtesy New York City Department of Investigation/Handout/Reuters
A former Rikers Island prison guard was convicted on Thursday of civil rights violations and conspiring to falsify records in the beating death of sick inmate Ronald Spear, 52, who was killed in 2012. Prosecutors said Brian Coll, 47, kicked Spear in the head repeatedly. A Manhattan federal court jury unanimously voted to convict Coll. “As the evidence at trial established, Coll killed Spear by repeatedly kicking him in the head as he lay restrained on the ground, telling him before he died not to forget who did this to him,” U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said in a statement. “The FBI investigators and career prosecutors on this case did not forget. And today, neither did the jury.”
