Body camera footage released by the New York Attorney General’s Office on Friday showed officers at Marcy Correctional Facility allegedly beating an inmate to death during a prison transfer.
The footage, which has gone viral on social media, shows the correctional officers punching, kicking, and stomping on Robert Brooks, 43, while he was handcuffed and restrained in a medical examination room. The inmate succumbed to his injuries on the following day, according to CNN.
The video, which does not have audio because the officers had not properly activated their cameras, shows three officers carrying Brooks face down. The officers can be seen repeatedly striking Brooks in the face, chest, and groin.
At one point, an officer shoves a white material into the inmate’s mouth while another hits him with a shoe. Later in the video, the officers yanked Brooks by his shirt collar while lifting him off the table.
Robert Brooks was pronounced dead on December 10 at Wynn Hospital in Utica, according to Attorney General Letitia James. Brooks, 43, had been serving a 12-year prison sentence since 2017 for first-degree assault, prison documents show.
Attorney General Letitia James referred to the footage as “shocking and disturbing” during a press conference. “We will use every possible tool available to us to investigate this death thoroughly and swiftly,” she vowed.
Gov. Kathy Hochul also weighed in, calling the incident a “senseless killing.” She ordered the Department of Corrections to fire 14 employees involved in the assault. One of the officers resigned before being terminated. The governor insisted that “The vast majority of correction officers do extraordinary work under difficult circumstances” and affirmed that the state has “ no tolerance for individuals who cross the line, break the law, and engage in unnecessary violence or targeted abuse.”
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The autopsy concluded that Brooks died from asphyxia due to neck compression as a result of the officers’ actions. He was serving a 12-year sentence after being convicted in 2017 for a first-degree assault on his girlfriend.
Marcy Correctional Facility has a long and storied history of abuse against inmates. A 2022 report from the Correctional Association of New York (CANY) noted that 80 percent of inmates interviewed by investigators reported witnessing or experiencing verbal, physical, or sexual abuse by staff. About 67 percent reported racial abuse.
A lawsuit filed in 2022 claims another inmate named Adam Bauer was viciously beaten by multiple officers, including one of those allegedly involved in Brooks’ death, according to a New York Times report.
Nicholas Anzalone, one of the officers accused in the assault of Mr. Brooks, joined with other officers in the attack on Mr. Bauer, the lawsuit said. On Friday, a man who answered a phone belonging to Mr. Anzalone, a corrections officer who joined the department in 2007, declined to comment.
“They knew about Nicholas Anzalone for many years and they did nothing,” said Ms. Rosenfeld, Mr. Bauer’s lawyer.
Mr. Bauer said he was exiting a bathroom stall and about to light a cigarette with a battery when a guard stopped him and asked what he was doing, the lawsuit said. The officer ordered M r. Bauer to stand against the wall for a frisk. After a few pats, the officer began punching him in the head until he fell to the floor and then kicked him, according to the lawsuit.
Two sergeants and Mr. Anzalone joined in, including one sergeant who slammed a clipboard against Mr. Bauer’s head so hard that the metal clasp tore a hole in his scalp. The guards then dragged him out of the prison, put him in a van and drove him to the infirmary, Mr. Bauer said. Once there, he was forced to lie facedown on the floor as Mr. Anzalone kicked his feet, the lawsuit said.
Photos of Mr. Bauer show him dazed, topless and wearing only red shorts while seated on a gurney in the infirmary. Blood was splattered on the floor and dripped down his face from two gashes on his forehead.
The officers involved in the incident have not yet been charged with crimes.
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