[Tim Black Update] - Body-worn camera footage released Friday shows correctional officers at the Marcy Correctional Facility in upstate New York punching and kicking a handcuffed inmate in a fatal beating that is now under investigation by the New York attorney general.

Robert Brooks was pronounced dead on December 10 at Wynn Hospital in Utica, according to Attorney General Letitia James. Brooks, 43, had been serving a 12-year prison sentence since 2017 for first-degree assault, The Associated Press reported.

Footage shows surrounding officers kicking and punching Brooks, who has his hands handcuffed behind his back on an exam table in a medical examination room. Brooks’ face appears bloody in some of the footage.

At one point, an officer appears to shove something in Brooks’ mouth before repeatedly hitting him in the face. Another officer then punches Brooks in the groin before using a shoe to strike him.

The New York Attorney General’s Office of Special Investigations previously announced it had opened an investigation into Brooks’ death.

“As Attorney General, you have my word that we will use every possible tool available to us to investigate this death thoroughly and swiftly,” James said Friday.
She said four of the officers involved were wearing body cameras but did not activate them, so the cameras did not record audio of the incident.

“These videos are shocking and disturbing, and I advise all to take appropriate care before choosing to watch them,” she said.

Brooks had been transferred from Mohawk Correctional Facility, another Oneida County prison, to Marcy Correctional Facility on December 9, according to James.

Parts of the footage show Brooks, face down with his hands handcuffed behind his back, being carried into the building by three officers. It’s unclear what led up to Brooks being brought into the exam room.