ALBANY, N.Y. — The dying of a handcuffed man who was pummeled by New York jail guards was dominated a murder in an post-mortem report, legal professionals for his household mentioned Wednesday.
The report issued by the county medical expert’s workplace final week concludes that the reason for Robert Brooks’ dying in December was compression of the neck and a number of blunt influence accidents.
The style of dying was decided to be murder, in accordance with the attorneys.
Physique digicam video exhibits corrections officers assaulting Brooks for about 10 minutes whereas he was handcuffed on a medical examination desk at Marcy Correctional Facility on Dec. 9.
One officer makes use of a shoe to strike Brooks within the abdomen, and one other yanks him up by his neck and drops him again on the desk.
Brooks was pronounced lifeless the following morning.
“I think what this does is rule out any argument that there was some other cause of death other than what we saw on video,” household legal professional Stephen Schwarz mentioned of the post-mortem report.
New York’s legal professional basic final month appointed Onondaga County District Legal professional William Fitzpatrick as a particular prosecutor to research Brooks’ dying. A grand jury is predicted to listen to proof within the case.
Greater than a dozen correctional officers and two nurses have been suspended with out pay. One officer stop.
Brooks’ son, Robert L. Brooks Jr., has sued the folks implicated within the assault, in addition to the pinnacle of the upstate facility at the moment and the commissioner of the state Division of Corrections and Neighborhood Supervision.