Death of New York man beaten by prison guards ruled a homicide in autopsy report, lawyers say The death of a handcuffed man who was pummeled by New York prison guards was ruled a homicide in an autopsy report, lawyers for his family said Wednesday.
The report issued by the county medical examiner's office last week concludes that the cause of Robert Brooks' death in December was compression of the neck and multiple blunt impact injuries.
New York’s attorney general last month appointed Onondaga County District Attorney William Fitzpatrick as a special prosecutor to investigate Brooks’ death.
Brooks' son, Robert L. Brooks Jr., has sued the people implicated in the attack, as well as the head of the upstate facility at that time and the commissioner of the state Department of Corrections and Community Supervision.
Body camera video shows corrections officers assaulting Brooks for about 10 minutes while he was handcuffed on a medical examination table at Marcy Correctional Facility on Dec. 9.
