New York officers in beating of Robert Brooks Sr. indicted for murder by grand jury
Officials involved in the assault of Robert Brooks Sr. Marcy Correctional Institution in upstate New York Prosecuted by a grand jury.
The officer was charged with second-degree murder and other charges, including manslaughter, gang attacks and tampering with evidence, court documents released Thursday.
Gov. Kathy Hochul said the officer was arrested for murder in a statement released earlier.
“Robert Brooks should be alive today. The brutal attack on Mr. Brooks is disgusting, and I immediately terminate the employment of the person involved. Now, the perpetrator is properly charged with murder and the state police are being arrested,” wrote .
Onodaga County District Attorney William Fitzpatrick’s office said “notable developments” will be announced in front of a state judge Thursday afternoon, but no other details are immediately provided. Fitzpatrick had previously said he would not comment on the investigation until the grand jury took action.
Fitzpatrick takes over the case as special prosecutor State Attorney General Letitia James withdrew himself In a potential conflict of interest, four officials said they are under investigation are represented in a previous brutal lawsuit in her office.
A press conference on Brooks case is scheduled to take place at 3:30 p.m. CBS News New York In the video player above.
Defeat Robert Brooks Sr.
Body camera video released last month showed multiple correction officers at the Massi Correctional Institute in Orndaga County punched Brooks while handcuffed on a medical examination table on December 9, 2024. Put him on his neck and then put him down.
The 43-year-old died the next day. The county medical examiner’s office ruled that his death was a homicide, caused by injuries to the neck and multiple blunt trauma.
His son Robert Brooks Jr. In an interview last month. “They murdered my father, they snatched him from me. He didn’t go home.”
Brooks was sentenced to nine years and 12 years in prison for stabbing his son’s mother. He was transferred from a nearby facility to prison hours before the beating.
Brooks Jr. said: “He did the crime, he was doing the time. He was going home to reform – that’s the purpose of the prison, it was not what my father got. He was sentenced to death.”
this Family brings civil rights lawsuitAccused prisons of using too much force in systems that tolerate violence.
Governor Kathy Hochul visits Marcy Correctional Institution
Extreme protest tips for Brooks’ beating Hochul visits the Correctional Institutionabout 200 miles northwest of New York City, between Rome and Utica.
Hochul appointed a new principal, announcing the facility’s new camera and vowed to speed up the $400 million new camera. She also ordered the state to file lawsuits for more than a dozen employees.
“Today, as I stood in the room where Robert Brooks was killed, I was once again saddened by this unnecessary loss of life and became further sick, thinking of the fallen people who did not consider the life of human beings behavior,” the governor’s statement after her visit. “Mr. Brooks and his family don’t deserve this.”
So far, 15 nurses and two officers have been suspended without pay, awaiting investigation. At least one officer quit.
Even before the Brooks case, employees in the Medium Security Prison were charged with abuse.
A watchdog team said after interviewing people in prison there in October 2022 that physical attacks were conducted in places without cameras, such as in vans and showers, New York’s Correctional Society said. Being told. The report says that if we don’t like what you’re doing, this is a new arrival, which is a “hands-on facility” and we’ll put your hands on you. ”
Contributed to this report.
