By Corrections1 Staff

RIKERS ISLAND, N.Y. — Two Rikers Island corrections captains who retreated while their colleague was brutally beaten by inmates have been suspended.

The New York Daily News reports that Captains Ricardo Reimers and Keith Phillip were seen in a surveillance video fleeing while Capt. Awais Ghauri, 31, was attacked by inmates in the middle of a dormitory on Thanksgiving day.

The union representing the captains called the fleeing officers “cowards.”

“They ran from danger,” Patrick Ferraiuolo, president of the Correction Captains Association, said. “There is no room for cowards in my rank. I’m not defending them.”

Ghauri was blindsided when inmate Jason Reid attacked him. Ghauri was able to briefly gain control of the fight, but then two other inmates joined in on the attack and punched the captain. Ghauri suffered bruises to his face and a cut to his left ear.

Reimers and Phillip, who were both recently promoted, are likely to be demoted. Reid has not yet been charged in the attack, which is still under investigation.