Investigators suspect Jeffrey Epstein was assaulted in a Lower Manhattan lock-up – and questioned a hulking ex-cop who’s housed in the same unit, law-enforcement sources told The Post on Thursday.
Epstein was placed on suicide watch after he was found sprawled on the floor of his cell, nearly unconscious and with injuries to his neck, the sources said.
But authorities are leaning away from the idea that the convicted pedophile did it to himself, either to commit suicide or merely get transferred out of the infamous Metropolitan Correctional Center, sources said.
“The marks are more consistent with being choked out than hanging yourself,” one source said.
Esptein, 66, has refused to cooperate with investigators, sources said.
Fellow inmate Nicholas Tartaglione, a former Briarcliff Manor cop who faces the death penalty in four drug-related killings upstate, was wearing earbuds when investigators went to question him about the incident, sources said.
Tartaglione, 51, claimed that he didn’t hear anything and wasn’t responsible for Epstein’s injuries, sources said. – READ MORE