Suit Filed Over Fatal Beating of New York Prisoner That Sparked Massive Guard Strike
A federal civil rights complaint filed on January 15, 2025, accused the New York Department of Corrections and Community Services (DOCCS) and over a dozen of its officials of violating the Eighth Amendment rights of prisoner Robert Brooks with use of excessive force and deliberate indifference to his resulting serious medical need, leaving him dead in December 2024. The fatal encounter occurred at Marcy Correctional Institution, where the prisoner—still in handcuffs—had just arrived after a transfer to protect him from fellow prisoners at another DOCCS lockup.
After the 43-year-old died, state Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) ordered 13 guards and a prison nurse fired, as PLN reported. Attorney General Letitia James (D) then released video of the fatal beating, which was captured by surveillance and guards’ body-worn cameras. When charges were announced against 10 guards in February 2025, thousands of fellow guards at prisons around the state staged a wildcat strike. By the time it ended three weeks later, another prisoner lay dead, for which 16 more guards had been suspended—including two later charged with his murder—despite 2,000 National Guard troops mustered to provide security. Hochul also fired some 2,000 striking guards who refused to return to work, though a ban on their future employment in law enforcement was quickly lifted after complaints from Sheriffs with short-staffed jails. [See: PLN, Feb. 2025, p.59; Mar. 2025, p.61; Apr. 2025, p.56; and May 2025, p.43.]
As the complaint filed over Brooks’ death recalled, the “demeanor” of the Marcy guards involved was almost as disturbing as the violence that they inflicted on the prisoner. “Rather than making any effort to end the inhumane brutality, every staff member who was present casually observed Robert’s prolonged attack as if it were a routine activity,” the complaint recalled. “All remained calm and utterly unfazed by what was happening. Some appear bored. Others appear amused, visibly smiling or laughing at what seems to have been a spectator sport to them.” That none of them thought to hide from or turn off their cameras indicated that the “brutal attack on Robert was very obviously business-as-usual for all involved.”
In addition to the guards and medical staff directly involved, the complaint also named DOCCS Commissioner Daniel Martuscello III as a defendant, alleging that he and his management staff failed to repair an “utterly broken system that condones, tolerates, or turns a blind eye to violence on incarcerated people.” Defendant Warden Danielle Medbury was removed by Hochul shortly after the attack.
The “on-scene” Defendants named in the complaint included all 13 staffers that Hochul ordered fired: Nurse Kyle Dashnaw and guards Matthew Galliher, Nicholas Anzalone, David Kingsley, Nicholas Kieffer, Robert Kessler, Michael Fisher, Christopher Walrath, Michael Along, Shea Schoff, David Walters, Michael Mashaw, and Glenn Trombley. Defendant guard Anthony Farina resigned shortly after the incident. Defendant Nurse Abedin Mehmedovic was not among those ordered fired.
The case remains pending in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of New York, and PLN will update developments as they unfold. Brooks’ Estate is represented by attorneys with Hughes Socol Piers Resnick & Dym, Ltd. in Chicago and Faraci Lange, LLP in Rochester. See: Brooks v. Farina, USDC (N.D.N.Y.), Case No. 9:25-cv-00068.
As a digital subscriber to Prison Legal News, you can access full text and downloads for this and other premium content.
Already a subscriber? Login
Related legal case
Brooks v. Farina
| Year | 2025 |
|---|---|
| Cite | USDC (N.D.N.Y.), Case No. 9:25-cv-00068 |
| Level | District Court |