When Robert Brooks pleaded guilty to stabbing his former girlfriend upstate in 2016, he got a 12-year sentence, but instead he received what amounted to the death penalty, dying following a savage beating by a group of state corrections officers who were supposed to be guarding him, not killing him. It certainly seems to have been a crime and anyone implicated must face justice.
Gov. Hochul has already directed that 14 people all be fired and state Attorney General Tish James yesterday published the silent body-cam video from several of the officers, which show the attack in progress on Brooks, who was in handcuffs and wearing leg irons.
The video depicts Brooks being punched and kicked and grabbed around his neck. He is hit in the face, torso and the legs and even smacked with his own shoe. Brooks is not fighting back (as his hands and feet are shackled) and is not even resisting the abuse.
Even the New York State Correctional Officers and Police Benevolent Association, the union representing the guards, said, “What we witnessed is incomprehensible to say the least and is certainly not reflective of the great work that the vast majority of our membership conducts every day. What transpired is the opposite of everything NYSCOPBA and its membership stand for.”
They added that “This incident not only endangers our entire membership but undermines the integrity of our profession. We cannot and will not condone this behavior.” That’s about as clear a marker as any to emerge yet that this beating appears, from all descriptions and sources thus far, to have been wholly unjustifiable.
Brooks was due for his first parole hearing in 2026 and his full 12 years was up on April 13, 2028, according the state Department of Corrections and Community Supervision’s online lookup. His Department Identification Number of 17B0640 now shows that his “Custody Status” is “DISCHARGED,” several years early. His Release Date/Type is Dec. 10 and “DECEASED.”
Brooks, who was 43, had a right to serve his sentence and walk out of prison upon the completion of his term, not to leave in a coffin.
Prison guards do not have as their job to punish, despite what some people might think. Their duty is to keep order and ensure that those in the facility’s care serve out their sentences, which means safeguarding them from dangers including other inmates, environmental hazards and illness. Protecting inmates from officers shouldn’t have to be a responsibility, but it is.
The only thing that ever really prevents circumstances like this from emerging again is accountability. The men who beat Brooks (as the video shows), are being probed by James, the State Police and the corrections department’s Office of Special Investigations. It’s hard to see how the beating could have been warranted.
Without the video from the body cams, nothing would be known except that Brooks died. As we’ve said many times, in many circumstances, memories may be hazy or forgetful, but pictures don’t change. Video and photos may exonerate the innocent as much as implicating the culpable. That certainly seems to be the case in the death of Robert Brooks.
