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Off-duty NYC jail employee indicted on charge of murdering 18-year-old
By
Samantha Max
Published Aug 22, 2022
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NYC Department of Correction
By
Samantha Max
Published Aug 22, 2022
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A New York City correction officer accused of killing an 18-year-old in the Bronx while off-duty last month was arraigned in court Monday.
Dion Middleton, 45, was indicted on charges of second-degree murder, and first- and second-degree manslaughter. If convicted, he could spend the rest of his life in prison.
The indictment was handed up July 27th, but announced Monday.
Prosecutors alleged Middleton shot into a car near the Cross Bronx Expressway and Morris Avenue around 1 a.m. on July 21st. At least one bullet struck and killed passenger Raymond Chaluisant.
Police later recovered a toy gun that shoots gel beads. Middleton’s union has said he fired his weapon after he felt something hit his back and was scared for his life.
Middleton fled the scene and later that day reported to work, where he was apprehended by police, according to prosecutors. The correction officer, who joined the department in 2013, has been suspended without pay. He had been assigned to the department’s gun range, where he was working as a firearms instructor.
Middleton is the first correction officer charged for shooting someone since a new law took effect last year that requires the state attorney general’s office to investigate deaths at the hands of police and peace officers, including jail staff.
Another off-duty correction officer fired his gun less than three weeks earlier, when, officials alleged, someone pointed a weapon into a crowd that was celebrating the Fourth of July weekend. In that case, no one was killed, and the officer was called a hero. He is still on active duty and facing no criminal charges.
After the U.S. Supreme Court overturned New York’s strict gun permit law, a slate of gun control measures passed in the legislature this summer limited who can carry firearms in many public places. Correction officers are one of the few exempt groups, along with police.
Even so, gun permits are more accessible in the state than they were before the Supreme Court decision. Researchers have found states that ease their firearm permit laws tend to have higher rates of shootings by law enforcement.
Middleton is being held in jail on a $1 million bond. If he posts bail, he will be required to wear an ankle monitor, according to the district attorney’s office. He was scheduled to appear in court on November 16th.
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new york city
public safety
department of correction
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Samantha Max
Samantha reports on whether New Yorkers feel safe and whether the institutions that are supposed to protect them are working. Before coming to WNYC/Gothamist, she spent three years covering the criminal justice system in Tennessee for Nashville Public Radio. Her reporting on Nashville's police department received multiple awards, including the Daniel Schorr Journalism Prize. Samantha was also part of the inaugural class of Report for America, a service journalism program that sends up-and-coming reporters to local newsrooms across the country. She is a Northwestern University grad, a Baltimore native and fluent in Spanish. Got a tip? Email [email protected] or Signal: samanthamaxwnyc.93.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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