2nd Line
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.
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.