New York officers beat handcuffed prisoner to death, disturbing footage emerges

Attorney General James is investigating the officers for their use of force on Brooks on December 9.

The morning after the assault, the 43-year-old inmate died at Wynn Hospital in Utica, she noted.

New York Governor Kathy Hochul ordered the dismissal of 14 workers, 13 officers and a nurse, involved in this fatal attack at the upstate New York correctional facility.

In a statement on Saturday, she said she was “outraged and horrified” by the videos of the “senseless killing”.

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The footage, which was made public on Friday, shows correctional officers repeatedly punching Brooks in the face and groin, striking him in the chest with a shoe, and lifting him by the neck before dropping him.

Brooks is seen sitting on a medical examination table with handcuffs on when two correctional officers hold him and one of them stuffs a white material into his mouth before punching him in the face.

A separate officer simultaneously hits him in the stomach with a shoe. At one point, an officer yanks Brooks up by the neck and drops him back on the table with force.

Later, another officer puts his foot on Brooks’ lower body, while one of the first two officers hits him again in the chest.

As the bloodied inmate lies motionless on his back on the table, the officers are seen removing his shirt and pants.

A day later, Brooks died. Preliminary findings from a medical examination of the deceased inmate suggest that “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”, AP reported citing court documents.

The final results of the postmortem examination are yet to be released.

Notably, while releasing the body-cam footage, Attorney General James said, “These videos are shocking and disturbing and I advise all to take appropriate care before choosing to watch them.”

The videos, however, do not include any audio as the body cameras had not been activated by the officers who were wearing them.

In lieu of Brooks’ death, the state’s Department of Corrections and Community Supervision issued a directive instructing the staff to use body cameras in every interaction with incarcerated people.

James noted that she does not the release of these videos lightly, especially during the holiday season. However, she said, “I release the videos because I have a responsibility and duty to provide the Brooks family, their loved ones, and all New Yorkers with transparency and accountability.”

The Attorney General said that her office was probing the use of force that led to Brooks’ death, but did not reveal whether they would be charged with the crimes.

‘Incomprehensible’ act

Meanwhile, Elizabeth Mazur, a lawyer for the Brooks family said that with the release of the body-cam footage, “members of the public can now view for themselves the horrific and extreme nature of the deadly attack on Robert L. Brooks.”

“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,” Mazur added.

The incident was described as “incomprehensible” by the union for state correctional officers. It said that the actions are “certainly not reflective of the great work that the vast majority of our membership conducts every day”.

The union, know as the New York State Correctional Officers and Police Benevolent Association, further said, “This incident not only endangers our entire membership but undermines the integrity of our entire profession. We cannot and will not condone this behavior.”

According to AP, Brooks was serving a 12-year jail term for first-degree assault since 2017. He was transferred to the Marcy Correctional Facility just hours before the fatal beating, officials said.

Meanwhile, a prison oversight group named ‘The Correctional Association of New York’ said that it recorded reports of pervasive brutality and racism inside the Marcy Correctional Facility during a monitoring visit two years back.

The executive director of the group, Jennifer Scaife, said the footage of Brooks’ beating “is sickening and appalling, but not surprising” given its previous findings. She called on the state prison system to address the “systemic issues” that allow for such brutality to happen in the first place.

(with AP inputs)