Footage from body cameras worn by four of more than a dozen correction officers present when the New York prisoner Robert Brooks was allegedly assaulted has been released by the state attorney general’s office.
Fourteen corrections department employees – two sergeants, 10 correction officers and a nurse – were suspended earlier this month pending the outcome of investigations after Brooks, 43, died following the 9 December encounter.
The videos released on Friday confirm details of the incident that were listed in court documents filed by state police earlier this week, including the fact that Brooks was handcuffed as he was being beaten.
“I do not take lightly the release of this video, especially in the middle of the holiday season,” the state attorney general, Letitia James, said in a video statement.
She added: “As attorney general, I release these videos because I have a responsibility and duty to provide the Brooks family, their loved ones and all New Yorkers with transparency and accountability.”
In the body-cam footage, Brooks’ face is seen covered with blood two minutes into the incident that started when correction officers at Marcy correctional facility in Oneida county beat him. Brooks died the following morning at a Utica hospital.
Ryan Paparella, a former correction officer now heading the investigation into Brooks’ death, earlier said there was no apparent motivation for the attack, which was witnessed by two male nurses and other officers, including the sergeants, who declined to intervene.
Officials are now bracing for protests and public outcry following the release of the video that shows several officers standing around a handcuffed Brooks as he was placed on an infirmary examination table.
One of the officers is seen to remove the prisoner’s shoes and begin to strike him. The assault shows officers repeatedly striking Brooks for about 10 minutes. He does not appear to be resist them or threaten them. At times, Brooks looked dazed from the physical assault and several times an officer could be seen rubbing Brooks’ sternum briskly with his knuckles – apparently to revive him.
While Brooks was still being restrained by multiple officers, another officer punched him three times in the buttocks, according to the court records. That officer also lifted his leg at one point and appeared to stomp on Brooks’ genital area.
The video footage then shows two officers pull Brooks up to a seated position on an exam table in the infirmary – his face dripping blood – before one of them could be seen striking Brooks in the chest with a closed fist.
That officer, who had been the first to start punching Brooks, subsequently put a new set of latex gloves on – apparently because the gloves he replaced had Brooks’ blood on them.
Body-camera footage also shows two male nurses standing in the hallway, at times peering into the room as the assault continued. Near the end of the videos, those nurses are called into the room and appear to check Brooks’s vital signs.
A medical examiner has preliminarily determined that Brooks, who suffered fractures and injuries to his upper body, groin, neck and head, may have died as a result of “asphyxia due to compression of the neck”.
The New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU) released a statement saying: “Brooks’s fatal beating is not an isolated incident. Rather, it highlights a culture of violence and a lack of accountability for wrongdoing by corrections officers that puts the lives of incarcerated New Yorkers at risk.”
It added: “No one should die in custody at the hands of corrections officers, who are charged with the safety and security of individuals in DOCCS’s facilities. Mr Brooks’s family and all New Yorkers deserve transparency and accountability.”
