'Barbaric violence': Video of inmate being beaten to death sparks call for 'immediate action'

On Friday, the Office of New York Attorney General Letitia James released body camera footage from the night that Marcy Correctional Facility inmate Robert Brooks was beaten to death. Now, calls are mounting for those involved to be held criminally accountable.

Politico reported that both New York Democratic Governor Kathy Hochul and New York state senator Julia Salazar — who chairs the senate's Crime Victims, Crime and Correction Committee — are both demanding answers and justice. The video shows several officers standing around Brooks, who had just arrived at Marcy after being transferred from the Mohawk Correctional Facility in Oneida County, taking turns beating him while he was restrained in handcuffs and leg shackles. Just six hours after the beating, Syracuse.com reported that Brooks died from his injuries at Wynn Hospital in Utica.

While officers hadn't turned on their body cameras, the video footage was obtained via "standby" mode that captures video without accompanying audio. While there are 13 officers and one nurse involved, none have yet been charged with a crime. Hochul has called for all of those involved in Brooks' fatal assault to be fired. And in a public statement, she seemingly suggested that additional action beyond termination could follow.

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"Like all New Yorkers, I was outraged and horrified after seeing footage of the senseless killing of Robert Brooks," Hochul stated Friday. "The State of New York has zero tolerance for individuals who break the law, and I am committed to holding everyone involved fully accountable."

Sen. Salazar posted a statement to X condemning the "unconscionable violence" displayed by the officers in the body camera footage. She noted that while some of those involved have already been suspended without pay and others have resigned, she noted that she "fully expect[s] all officers involved to be criminally charged for their respective roles in enabling and committing barbaric violence against Robert Brooks, ultimately killing him." She also called Brooks' death a "profound policy failure that demands immediate action."

"Marcy Correctional Facility cannot remain open. The brutal killing of Robert Brooks would be more than enough to demand the closure of Marcy," Salazar stated. "However, there have been additional, previous reports of unconscionable violence against incarcerated individuals by staff at Marcy and at other [Department of Corrections and Community Supervision] facilities. My office has received these reports, and I have urged those with power to investigate these reports to do so."

Brooks was serving a 12-year sentence for stabbing his girlfriend several times. At the time of his transfer to Marcy, Brooks had served seven years of that sentence. Those involved are Officers Mathew Galliher, Nicholas Anzalone, David Kingsley, Nicholas Kieffer, Robert Kessler, Michael Fisher, Christopher Walrath, Michael Along, Shea Schoff, David Walters, Anthony Farina, Michael Mashaw, Glenn Trombly and Nurse Kyle Dashnaw.

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Click here to read Politico's full report, and click here to view the body camera footage posted to Attorney General James' website (some of the footage is graphic and may be upsetting to some viewers.)

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