As correctional officer Dontae Malone was carried from the prison, his head dripping with blood and his uniform shredded by a homemade knife, he shouted three names before slipping out of consciousness.
Donta Walker, 24, Brian Troxler, 25, and Cedric Chambers, 38, all of Baltimore, are charged in the attack. Malone identified them in a group of about seven inmates at the Maryland House of Correction who he said ambushed him and Sgt. Damean Stewart on March 29 of last year.
“I kept passing out and coming back. I thought I was going to die, but I wanted those inmates brought to justice… in case I didn?t make it,” Malone testified Wednesday in Anne Arundel Circuit Court during the attempted murder trial of Walker and Troxler. Walker is serving a life sentence for a previous murder and Troxler is serving about 80 years for an unrelated murder.
Several correctional officers took the stand recounting the bloody scene in which Stewart was jumped by the inmates, some disguised in hats they turned into masks.
Malone was doing security rounds when he heard thumping in a nearby wing. He thought inmates were fighting and ran to intervene.
The inmates were stabbing Stewart repeatedly in the back and yelling they were going to kill him. Malone tried to help Stewart, but said he was stabbed himself three times in the head and several times in the back.
“He stabbed me in my head so far that he had to yank it out,” Malone said pointing to the two-inch scar on the side of his head. The fight ensued down a flight of stairs, and Malone said he gave up and was bleeding to death waiting for someone to come help him.
Responding correctional officer Brian Avery said blood was everywhere. The officers? handcuffs, radios and keys were scattered on the ground and the grill to the wing was open.
“Sgt. Stewart and Officer Malone were on the ground full of blood,” Avery said.
Correctional officer Tunji Ajala helped carry Malone to the prison?s medical center.
“He was repeating the names to me. He was listing them out to me. I memorized it immediately and tried to give it to my captain,” Ajala said.
But defense attorneys disputed Malone?s ability to identify his attackers, citing the dark lighting, the blood dripping in his eyes and his hysterical state of mind.
Walker?s attorney Brian Murphy said Malone may have identified Walker because he “was a pain in the butt” always asking Malone for passes to go get medicine for his asthma.
Troxler?s attorney William Purpura said Troxler was not assigned a job at the prison and would have no reason to be out of his cell at the time of the attack.
The Maryland House of Corrections was shut down in April of this year after a series of violent incidents.
The trial is scheduled to continue today.
