The footage is hard to watch. Honestly, it’s some of the most visceral evidence ever released from inside the New York state prison system. When the robert brooks body cam video finally hit the public domain in late 2024, it didn't just cause a stir; it sparked a complete overhaul of how we look at custodial safety. You’ve likely heard snippets of the story—a man transferred between facilities, a medical room, and a group of officers—but the raw details of what those lenses captured are much more disturbing than the headlines suggest.
Robert Brooks was 43. He was a musician. He was a man who had earned his GED while behind bars and was serving a 12-year sentence for a 2017 assault. On December 9, 2024, he was moved from Mohawk Correctional to Marcy Correctional Facility. Within hours of his arrival, he was dead. The cause? Asphyxia due to compression of the neck and massive blunt force trauma.
Breaking Down the Robert Brooks Body Cam Footage
The video itself is silent. The officers involved hadn't actually activated the audio on their cameras, a detail that became a massive point of contention during the subsequent trials. But the visuals? They speak plenty.
In the recording, Brooks is sitting on an examination table in the prison infirmary. He is handcuffed. His face is already bleeding on the right side from an earlier encounter. For the next seven to ten minutes, the footage depicts a level of violence that special prosecutor William Fitzpatrick described as "gut-churning."
You see officers strike Brooks in the face, torso, and groin. At one point, an officer uses a shoe to pummel his chest. Another officer lifts him by the neck and drops him. There is a moment where an officer forces a white object into Brooks' mouth while another holds his throat.
- The Inaction: What’s perhaps most haunting isn't just the striking; it's the bystanders. Several officers and two nurses are visible in the frame or just outside the doorway. They watch. They wait.
- The Sternal Rub: As Brooks becomes unresponsive, an officer is seen performing a sternal rub—a painful technique used to wake someone up—but it’s clear Brooks is already beyond that kind of help.
- The Window: Perhaps the most bizarre and chilling part of the robert brooks body cam involves two officers lifting Brooks' motionless body toward a nearby window before placing him back on the table.
The Legal Fallout and the Michael Fisher Trial
Fast forward to January 2026. The legal system has been grinding through the cases of the ten officers indicted back in February 2025. We’ve seen a mix of outcomes: one murder conviction, several manslaughter pleas, and two acquittals.
The final chapter closed just days ago with the trial of Michael Fisher. Fisher was the last guard to face a jury. He wasn't accused of throwing the punches. Instead, the prosecution targeted his inaction. "For seven minutes... he stood in that room close enough to touch him and he did nothing," Fitzpatrick told the jury.
Fisher’s defense was basically that he arrived late and didn't realize the severity of what was happening. He didn't have a "rewind button," his lawyer argued. On January 16, 2026, the case took a sudden turn. After the jury deadlocked on the manslaughter charge, Fisher entered a surprise guilty plea to second-degree reckless endangerment.
Where the Officers Stand Now
| Officer/Staff | Legal Outcome (as of Jan 2026) |
|---|---|
| Michael Fisher | Pleaded guilty to reckless endangerment; 6-month jail sentence (pending appeal). |
| Anthony Farina | Convicted of murder in late 2025. |
| Glenn Trombly | Pleaded guilty to manslaughter. |
| Nicholas Anzalone | Pleaded guilty to manslaughter. |
| Six Other Officers | Mixture of pleas and two acquittals. |
| Prison Nurses | Fired and investigated for failure to provide aid. |
Why This Case Changed New York Prisons
If you think this was just one bad night at one bad facility, you’ve gotta look at the context. Marcy Correctional already had a reputation. A 2022 report by the Correctional Association of New York found that 80% of inmates surveyed at Marcy reported some form of abuse.
The release of the robert brooks body cam footage forced Governor Kathy Hochul’s hand. The public outcry was so intense that it led to:
- The firing of 13 officers and a nurse.
- A $400 million investment to install fixed cameras in all state facilities.
- A strict new directive requiring body cameras to be active during all interactions.
- The deployment of the National Guard in 2025 after a wildcat strike by corrections officers.
It’s a messy, violent history. Many people wonder if the cameras actually prevent the violence or just help us prosecute it after the fact. In the case of Robert Brooks, the cameras didn't save his life, but they made it impossible for the world to look away from how he lost it.
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Lessons from the Body Cam Evidence
The Brooks case is a textbook example of why "passive bystander" laws are being pushed so hard in 2026. When you watch the footage, the distinction between the person committing the act and the person watching it begins to blur.
If you are following this case or similar civil rights litigation, the key takeaways are about transparency. Before this, "he fell" or "he resisted" was often the end of the story. Now, the video is the story.
Moving forward, the focus for advocates is on the "Duty to Intervene" policies. It’s no longer enough for an officer to just not participate; they are now legally expected to stop their colleagues.
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Next Steps for Information Seekers:
- Review the New York State Attorney General’s Office of Special Investigation (OSI) website, which hosts the public versions of the footage for transparency.
- Monitor the sentencing of Michael Fisher on January 30, 2026, to see how the court balances inaction with criminal liability.
- Track the implementation of the "Brooks Reforms" across other DOCCS facilities to ensure the $400 million in camera upgrades are actually being completed.