Bodycam video shows NY jail officers beating handcuffed man before death

Warning: This story and video contain details of violence.

Newly released video of the fatal beating at a New York prison shows corrections officers repeatedly punching a handcuffed man, hitting him in the chest with a shoe and lifting him by the neck.

Body camera footage of the Dec. 9 attack on Robert Brooks was released Friday by the state attorney general, who is investigating officers’ use of force.

Brooks, 43, was pronounced dead at the hospital the morning after the attack at Marcy Correctional Facility, the state prison where he was held in Oneida County.

According to New York Gov. Cathy Hochul, 13 correctional officers and nurses involved in the attack will be fired.

Footage released to the public Friday shows corrections officers repeatedly punching Brooks in the face and groin as he sat handcuffed on a medical examination table.

One of the officers kicks Brooks in the stomach with a shoe, while the other grabs him by the neck and throws him back onto the table. The officers then remove his shirt and pants as he lies on his back, motionless and covered in blood.

New York Attorney General Letitia James said, “These videos are shocking and disturbing, and I urge everyone to exercise due diligence before choosing to watch them.”

Final results of Brooks’ autopsy are still pending.

Preliminary results from the medical examiner’s office indicate “neck strangulation as the cause of death, as well as concern about asphyxia caused by the actions of another person,” according to court documents.

WATCH | Bodycam video shows guards beating a handcuffed prisoner:

A handcuffed inmate is beaten by New York guards before he dies, body camera video shows

Newly released body camera footage shows corrections officers at a New York state prison punching and kicking a handcuffed inmate before he died. The office of New York Attorney General Letitia James, who is investigating the incident, released the footage on Friday.

“Terrible and extreme”

The videos have no sound because the body cameras were not activated by the officers wearing them.

The state Department of Corrections and Community Supervision issued a directive after Brooks’ death requiring staff to use body cameras in every interaction with inmates.

James said his office is investigating the use of force that led to Brooks’ death, but did not say whether any of the officers will be charged with a crime.

Family attorney Elizabeth Mazur said that with the release of the videos, “members of the public can now see for themselves the horrific and extreme nature of the fatal attack on Robert L. Brooks.”

“As the audience saw, Mr. Brooks was fatally, violently beaten by a group of officers whose job it was to keep him safe,” Mazur said. “He deserved to live, and everyone who lives at Marcy Detention Center deserves to know that they don’t have to live in fear of abuse at the hands of prison staff.”

“Systemic Problems”

The state corrections officers union, which watched footage of the attack before it was made public, said in a statement: “What we are witnessing 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 jeopardizes our entire membership, it undermines the integrity of our profession. We cannot and will not condone this behavior,” the New York State Correctional Officers and Police Benevolent Association said.

As of 2017, Brooks was serving a 12-year sentence for first-degree assault. He arrived at Marcy Correctional Facility just hours before the beating, authorities said.

Marcy is located about 200 miles northwest of New York, between the cities of Rome and Utica.

The Correctional Association of New York, a prison watchdog group, said it documented widespread reports of brutality and racism at Marsy Correctional Facility during a monitoring visit two years ago.

The organization’s executive director, Jennifer Scaife, said the footage of Brooks’ beating was “painful and horrifying, but not surprising given his previous results.” He called on the state prison system to “address the systemic problems that allow such brutality to flourish.”

David Condliffe, executive director of the Center for Community Alternatives, a non-profit alternative to prison, said in a statement: “For every incident caught on camera, countless incidents of violence and murder in prisons are ignored, rationalized or covered up.

“Accountability must include firing a few individuals, but it cannot stop there. Their violence is not an anomaly, but a product of a system steeped in impunity.”