Bodycam footage reveals deadly attack on NY inmate
Bodycam footage of NY prison beating death released
The New York Attorney General's Office has released body camera footage showing the alleged fatal beating of Robert Brooks at Marcy Correctional Facility in Oneida County. The footage, which depicts correctional officers repeatedly pummeling Brooks, striking him with a shoe, and lifting him by the neck before dropping him, has sparked widespread outrage.
NEW YORK - New York Governor Kathy Hochul has ordered the termination of more than a dozen employees, including a nurse at Marcy Correctional Facility in Oneida County, following a deadly attack on an inmate captured on body-worn camera.
Attorney General Letitia James, who is investigating the incident, released footage Friday showing 43-year-old Robert Brooks being fatally beaten. "Like all New Yorkers, I was outraged and horrified after seeing footage of the senseless killing of Robert Brooks," Hochul said in a statement.
"These videos are shocking and disturbing, and I advise all to take appropriate care before choosing to watch them," James said.
The footage made public Friday shows correctional officers repeatedly punching Brooks in the face and groin as he sits handcuffed on a medical examination table.
As one of the officers uses a shoe to strike Brooks in the stomach, another yanks him up by his neck and drops him back on the table. The officers then remove the man’s shirt and pants as he lies motionless and bloodied on his back.
MARCY, NY - DECEMBER 19: Barbed wire surrounds Marcy Correctional Facility state prison on Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024, on Route 88 in Marcy, N.Y. (Will Waldron/Albany Times Union via Getty Images)
The final results of Brooks’ autopsy are still pending.
Preliminary findings from a medical examination indicate "concern for asphyxia due to compression of the neck as the cause of death, as well as the death being due to actions of another," according to court filings.
The videos do not include audio because the body cameras had not been activated by the officers wearing them.
James said her office was investigating the use of force that led to Brooks' death, but did not say whether any of the officers would be charged with crimes.
With the release of the videos, "members of the public can now view for themselves the horrific and extreme nature of the deadly attack on Robert L. Brooks," a lawyer for his family, Elizabeth Mazur, said.
"As viewers can see, Mr. Brooks was fatally, violently beaten by a group of officers whose job was to keep him safe," Mazur said. "He deserved to live, and everyone else living in Marcy Correctional Facility deserves to know they do not have to live in fear of violence at the hands of prison staff."
The union for state correctional officers, which viewed footage of the assault before its public release, said in a statement: "What we witnessed is incomprehensible to say the least and is certainly not reflective of the great work that the vast majority of our membership conducts every day."
"This incident not only endangers our entire membership but undermines the integrity of our profession. We cannot and will not condone this behavior," said the union, the New York State Correctional Officers and Police Benevolent Association.
Brooks had been serving a 12-year prison sentence for first-degree assault since 2017. He had arrived at the Marcy Correctional Facility only hours before the beating, after being transferred from another nearby state prison, officials said.
Marcy is about 200 miles (323 kilometers) northwest of New York City, between the cities of Rome and Utica.
The Correctional Association of New York, a prison oversight group, said they had documented reports of pervasive brutality and racism inside the Marcy Correctional Facility during a monitoring visit two years ago.
Tina Luongo, a chief attorney at The Legal Aid Society in New York City, called for "complete transparency" on state correctional staff's use of force and a "full accounting of this tragedy."
"Like everyone who has seen this video, we are horrified, angered, and deeply saddened," said Luongo, calling the assault on Brooks "a grotesque display of inhumanity that is utterly appalling."
"Too often, the violence that occurs behind prison walls remains hidden or becomes normalized in the public eye once the headlines fade," said Luongo, whose organization provides public defender services and has clients in state prisons.
What happened?
On Dec. 9, Brooks was transferred from Mohawk Correctional Facility to Marcy Correctional Facility, both in Oneida County.
After being taken to a medical examination room while handcuffed, the assault occurred.
Brooks was later transported to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead in the early hours of Dec. 10.
The Source: Written with information from the Associated Press.