Bodycam footage released Friday shows corrections officers at a New York prison facility beating a handcuffed inmate who died the next day. Robert Brooks, 43, was pronounced dead at a hospital on December 10, a day after the incident at Marcy Correctional Facility in New York.
New York Attorney General Letitia James, who is currently investigating the case, made body camera footage from December 9 public on Friday.
Following an internal review, New York Governor Kathy Hochul ordered the firing of 13 officers and a prison nurse for their alleged involvement in the attack, the BBC reported. Hochul said she was “angry and horrified” by the video of Brooks’ “senseless murder.”
On 12/9, a group of NYS COs brutally beat Robert Brooks. It killed him.
They tried to shut his mouth. He was punched, kicked, crushed, strangled and thrown. Hit him with the shoe. Made her naked. They laughed and joked.
His hands were tied behind his back.
The medical staff kept watching. pic.twitter.com/vaQ393aQJs
– Dyjuan Tatro (@DyjuanTatro) 27 December 2024
Letitia James’ office has launched an investigation, while the union representing state prison workers has called the footage “beyond comprehension.”
brutal assault
In the footage, officers hit Brooks in the face and groin; A handcuffed prisoner was sitting on a medical examination table.
At one point, one officer hit Brooks in the stomach with a shoe, while another officer grabbed him by the neck and threw him back onto a table. Soon after, they took off his shirt and pants, and there was no movement on his back.
The viral video, which has no audio because the body cameras worn by the officers were not activated, also shows an officer putting something inside the inmate’s mouth before attacking him.
Although the final post-mortem results are currently awaited, preliminary findings of the medical examination revealed that “the cause of death was asphyxia due to pressure on the neck coupled with the act of someone else”.
According to The Associated Press, Brooks had been serving a 12-year prison sentence since 2017 for first-degree assault. Shockingly, he arrived at Marcy Correctional Facility just hours before the incident occurred. Officials said he had been transferred from another nearby state prison.
