NY attorney general releases videos in beating death of state prisoner

New York Attorney General Letitia James on Friday released what she called "shocking and disturbing" body-worn camera video showing the beating of a handcuffed state prisoner who later died.

The footage showed as many as eight employees of the state Department of Correction and Community Services taking turns punching, kicking and manipulating the neck and stomach of 43-year-old Robert Brooks, a Monroe County man who had just been transferred to the Marcy Correctional Facility in Oneida County.

Brooks pleaded guilty to stabbing an ex-girlfriend in 2016 and was in the middle of serving a 12-year prison sentence.

According to the attorney general, Brooks died early on Dec. 10 after the incident with correction staff the previous night. The correction department announced Brooks' death on Dec. 15. and James opened an investigation the next day as required by state law.

Gov. Kathy Hochul on Dec. 23 ordered state Correction Commissioner Daniel Martuscello to begin terminating 14 correction employees who were either directly involved or failed to intervene. She said she was “outraged and horrified” after seeing “a senseless killing.”

In a video release, James said her office obtained video from four cameras worn by officers.

“The four officers had their body-worn cameras powered on but did not activate them,” she said, "so their cameras were recording video in standby mode without recording sound.”

Without audio, the video is difficult to interpret.

It shows Brooks, who is handcuffed and prone, being carried from outside the facility into a medical exam room. Brooks appears to be in a delirious state after several punches to his face and groin, and officers sat him up on an exam table, according to the video.

At one point, an officer is seen placing a white cloth in Brooks' mouth before punching him in his face. The video also shows officers pushing Brooks’ torso forward and punching him.

Officers then moved Brooks to a wall, where they appeared to lift him off his feet, although the view was obstructed by correction staff who did not have activated body cameras. Brooks was subsequently moved back to an exam table, where he was in undergarments and appeared unconscious, the video shows.

Through their attorney Elizabeth Mazur, Brooks’ family members called the attack “horrific and extreme.”

“As viewers can see, Mr. Brooks was fatally, violently beaten by a group of officers whose job was to keep him safe," Mazur said. She vowed justice for Brooks and others held at the Marcy Correctional Facility.

Brooks’ death comes after advocates had previously raised concerns over safety at the site. The prison watchdog group Correctional Association of New York issued a report based on an October 2022 visit to Marcy, where the group said it found “rampant abuse by staff, including physical assaults and observations of a retaliatory environment."

Prisoners at the site, who are predominantly Black and Latino, reported “pervasive allegations of racial discrimination, mistreatment by staff," according to the report.

Brooks was Black and the correction employees involved in his death appeared to be white.

Martuscello announced that the correction department would conduct its own investigation alongside James' inquiry.

"There is no excuse and no rationalization for a vulgar, inhumane act that senselessly took a life. This type of behavior cannot be normalized," he said. "It is not enough to simply condemn this horrific act and then go back to business. Institutional change must follow, and we have already begun to take proactive steps to ensure that nothing like this can ever happen again."

The union representing correction officers in New York condemned the incident as “incomprehensible” and said it was not reflective of its members.

Spokesperson James Miller said the union is obligated to legally defend its members. “However, fulfilling this duty does not mean endorsing these actions,” he said.