Death of New York man beaten by prison guards ruled a homicide in
autopsy report, lawyers say
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[February 06, 2025]
ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — The death of a handcuffed man who was
pummeled by New York prison guards was ruled a homicide in an autopsy
report, lawyers for his family said Wednesday. |
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This image provided by the New York State Attorney General office shows
body camera footage of correction officers beating a handcuffed man,
Robert Brooks, 43, at the Marcy Correctional Facility in Oneida County,
N.Y., on Dec. 9, 2024. (New York State Attorney General office via AP,
File) |
The report issued by the county medical examiner's office last
week concludes that the cause of Robert Brooks' death in
December was compression of the neck and multiple blunt impact
injuries. The manner of death was determined to be homicide,
according to the attorneys.
Body camera video shows corrections officers assaulting Brooks
for about 10 minutes while he was handcuffed on a medical
examination table at Marcy Correctional Facility on Dec. 9. One
officer uses a shoe to strike Brooks in the stomach, and another
yanks him up by his neck and drops him back on the table.
Brooks was pronounced dead the next morning.
“I think what this does is rule out any argument that there was
some other cause of death other than what we saw on video,”
family attorney Stephen Schwarz said of the autopsy report.
New York’s attorney general last month appointed Onondaga County
District Attorney William Fitzpatrick as a special prosecutor to
investigate Brooks’ death. A grand jury is expected to hear
evidence in the case.
More than a dozen correctional officers and two nurses were
suspended without pay. One officer quit.
Brooks' son, Robert L. Brooks Jr., has sued the people
implicated in the attack, as well as the head of the upstate
facility at that time and the commissioner of the state
Department of Corrections and Community Supervision.
Gov. Kathy Hochul called for fast action in the criminal
investigation in light of the medical examiner's homicide
ruling.
“Those responsible for Mr. Brooks’ death must be held
accountable to the fullest extent of the law, and I recognize
the need to build an airtight prosecution to ensure those
individuals are brought to justice,” she said in a prepared
statement.
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