Warning: This story and video contain details of violence.
A recently released video of a fatal beating at a New York City prison shows corrections officers repeatedly punching a handcuffed man, hitting him in the chest with a shoe, then lifting him by the neck and dropping him.
Body camera footage of the Dec. 9 attack on Robert Brooks was released Friday by the state's attorney general, who is investigating the officers' use of force.
Brooks, 43, died at the hospital the morning after the assault at Marcy Correctional Facility, the state prison where he was incarcerated in Oneida County.
Thirteen corrections officers and a nurse involved in the attack face termination, according to New York Governor Kathy Hochul, who said she was “outraged and appalled” by the videos showing the “senseless killing.”
The video, which was released Friday, shows corrections officers repeatedly punching Brooks in the face and groin as he sits handcuffed on an examination table.
As one officer hits Brooks in the stomach with his boot, another officer grabs him by the neck and drops him back onto the table. The officers then remove the man's shirt and pants, who lies on his back, motionless and bloody.
“These videos are shocking and disturbing, and I advise everyone to exercise appropriate caution before viewing them,” said New York Attorney General Letitia James.
The final results of Brooks' autopsy are still pending.
Preliminary medical examination results indicate that “there are concerns that the cause of death may be asphyxiation due to neck compression, as well as death caused by the action of another person,” according to court documents.
Newly released bodycam footage shows corrections officers at an upstate New York prison punching and kicking a handcuffed inmate before his death. The office of New York Attorney General Letitia James, who is investigating the incident, released the footage on Friday.
“Scary and Extreme”
The videos contain no audio because the officers wearing them did not activate their body cameras.
The state Department of Corrections and Community Supervision issued an order in the wake of Brooks' death requiring staff to use body cameras during every interaction with inmates.
James said her office is investigating the use of force that led to Brooks' death, but she did not say whether any of the officers would face criminal charges.
With the release of the videos, “the public can now witness firsthand the horrific and extreme nature of the fatal attack on Robert L. Brooks,” said his family's attorney, Elizabeth Mazur.
“As viewers can see, Mr. Brooks was fatally and brutally beaten by a group of officers tasked with keeping him safe,” Mazur said. “He deserved to live and everyone else in Marcy Correctional Facility deserves to know that they do not have to live in fear of violence at the hands of prison staff.”
“System Problems”
The corrections officers' union, which viewed footage of the assault before its release, said in a statement: “What we witnessed is incomprehensible, to say the least, and certainly does not reflect the great work that the vast majority of our members do every day.”
“This incident not only threatens our entire membership, but undermines the integrity of our profession. We cannot and will not tolerate such behavior,” said the union, Corrections Officers and the New York State Police Benevolent Association.
Brooks had been serving a 12-year sentence since 2017 for first-degree assault. He arrived at the Marcy Correctional Facility just hours before the beating after being transferred from another nearby state prison, officials said.
Marcy is located approximately 200 miles northwest of New York City, between the cities of Rome and Utica.
Statement from the Correctional Association of New York (CANY) regarding the release of video of the killing
Robert Brooks at Marcy Correctional Facility pic.twitter.com/nLN2irOo3u
The Correctional Association of New York, a prison watchdog group, said it documented reports of pervasive brutality and racism at the Marcy Correctional Facility during a monitoring visit two years ago.
The organization's executive director, Jennifer Scaife, said the footage of Brooks' beating was “disgusting and horrific, but not surprising” given previous findings. She called on the state prison system to “address the systemic problems that allow such brutality to flourish.”
David Condliffe, executive director of the nonprofit Center for Community Alternatives, said in a statement: “Every incident caught on camera means that countless more acts of prison violence and murder are ignored, excused or covered up.” .
“Accountability must include the firing of a few people, but it cannot stop there. Their violence is not an anomaly; is the product of a system riddled with impunity.”