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A bodycam footage released on Friday shows the correctional officers at a New York prison facility beating a handcuffed inmate, who died the following day. Robert Brooks, 43, was declared dead at a hospital on December 10, a day after the incident at the Marcy Correctional Facility in New York.
New York Attorney General Letitia James, who is currently investigating the case, made the December 9 body camera footage public on Friday.
After an internal review, New York Governor Kathy Hochul ordered the firing of 13 officers and a prison nurse for their alleged involvement in the assault, BBC reported. Hochul noted she was “outraged and horrified” by the videos of Brooks' “senseless killing”.
On 12/9, a group of NYS COs brutally beat Robert Brooks. It killed him.
They tried to gag him. Punched, kicked, stomped, choked & slammed him. Beat him with a shoe. Stripped him naked. They laughed & joked.
His hands were cuffed behind his back.
Medical staff watched. pic.twitter.com/vaQ393aQJs
— Dyjuan Tatro (@DyjuanTatro) December 27, 2024
Letitia James' office has opened an investigation, while the union representing state prison workers has termed the footage as "incomprehensible".
Brutal assault
In the footage, the officers hit Brooks in the face and groin; the handcuffed prisoner sat on a medical examination table.
At one point, an officer used a shoe to strike Brooks in the stomach, another one lifted him by his neck and dropped him back on the table. Soon after, they removed his shirt and pants, and he was left motionless on his back.
The viral videos, which do not have any audio since the body cameras were not activated by the officers wearing them, also show an officer placing something inside the prisoner's mouth before striking him.
Although final post-mortem results are currently awaited, the preliminary findings from a medical examination have indicated “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 The Associated Press, Brooks was serving a 12-year prison sentence since 2017 for first-degree assault. Shockingly, he arrived at the Marcy Correctional Facility only a few hours before the incident occured. He was transferred from another nearby state prison, officials said.