Laura Barron-Lopez:
Bodycam footage shows Robert Brooks repeatedly kicked, punched and choked after arriving at the Marcy Correctional Facility on December 9.
Brooks had been serving a 12-year sentence for an assault in 2017. It is unclear why he was transferred to the Central New York prison. At one point, one officer yanks him by the neck and drops his semiconscious body on an examination table. The beating lasted roughly 20 minutes.
Brooks died the following morning. In a statement, an attorney for the Brooks family said: “Mr. Brooks was fatally, violently beaten by a group of officers whose job was to keep him safe. He deserved to live.”
New York Governor Kathy Hochul has requested the termination of 13 guards and one nurse implicated in the assault. After visiting the facility where Brooks was beaten, Governor Hochul released a statement yesterday, saying, in part: “The system failed Mr. Brooks, and I will not be satisfied until there has been significant culture change.”
In the aftermath of Brooks’ death, community leaders and activists are calling for justice and reform.
