Correctional officers in a New York A newly released video showed an inmate repeatedly punching a handcuffed inmate, hitting him with a shoe, lifting him by the neck and dropping him before he later died.
New York Attorney General Letitia James released body camera footage Friday of the Dec. 9 assault on Robert Brooks, 43, who died the morning after the incident.
The District Attorney's Office is investigating the officers' use of force that led to Brooks' death.
Brooks was pronounced dead at a hospital the day after the assault at Marcy Correctional Facility, a state prison in Oneida County.
Bodycam footage of correctional officers beating a handcuffed man, Robert Brooks, 43, at Marcy Correctional Facility in Oneida County, New York, on December 9, 2024. (New York State Attorney General's Office via AP)
He had been in prison since 2017 and was serving a 12-year sentence Assault in the first degree. Brooks had arrived at Marcy Correctional Facility just hours before the attack, after being transferred from a nearby state prison.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, ordered the firing of more than a dozen employees at the state Department of Corrections and Community Supervision, including corrections officers and a nurse involved in the attack. The governor said she was “angry and horrified” by the videos showing the “unjustified killing.”
The footage shows corrections officers repeatedly punching Brooks in the face and groin as he sits handcuffed on a medical examination table.
One officer was seen using a shoe to strike Brooks in the stomach while another lifted him by the neck and dropped him back onto the table. The officers then removed Brooks' shirt and pants as he lay motionless and bloodied from the beating.
James said: “These videos are shocking and disturbing, and I advise everyone to take appropriate caution before choosing to watch them.”
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New York Attorney General Letitia James speaks during a news conference on September 21, 2022 in New York. (AP Photo/Brittney Newman, File)
The final results of Brooks' autopsy are still pending.
The preliminary results of the medical examination show “fears that suffocation due to pressure on the neck was the cause of death, as well as that the death was due to the actions of another person.”
The videos have no audio because officers wearing body cameras did not activate them. The Department of Corrections issued a directive after the assault requiring staff to use body cameras in every staff interaction with inmates.
Brooks family attorney Elizabeth Mazur said the release of the videos means that “members of the public can now witness for themselves the horrific and extreme nature of the fatal attack on Robert L. Brooks.”
“As viewers can see, Mr. Brooks was severely and fatally beaten by a group of officers whose job it was to keep him safe,” Mazur said. “He deserved to live, and every other person living at Marcy Correctional Facility deserves to know that they do not have to live in fear of violence at the hands of prison staff.”
New York State Correctional Officers and Police Benevolent Association, Federation State correctional officersHe said in a statement that what was observed in the footage is “incomprehensible, to say the least, and certainly does not reflect the great work that the vast majority of our members do every day.”
Robert Brooks, 43, was pronounced dead in hospital the day after the assault at Marcy Correctional Facility. (Istock)
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“This incident not only jeopardizes our entire membership, but undermines the integrity of our profession,” the union said. “We cannot and will not condone this behavior.”
The New York Correctional Association, a group that oversees prisons, said it documented reports of brutality and racism during a monitoring visit two years ago at Marcy Correctional Facility.
Jennifer Scaife, the organization's executive director, said the footage of the assault on Brooks is “disgusting and horrific, but not surprising” given the previous findings, adding that the state's prison system needs to “address the systemic issues that allow such brutality.” Thrive.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
