New York Governor Orders Firing of 13 Guards, Nurse in Prisoner’s Fatal Beating
On December 22, 2024, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) ordered 13 state prison guards fired, along with a nurse, all of whom were involved in the fatal beating of state prisoner Robert Brooks, 43. Five days later, on December 27, 2024, state Attorney General Letitia James (D) released video of the fatal beat-down at Marcy Correctional Facility, where Brooks had been transferred after assaults by fellow prisoners at Mohawk Correctional Facility. He was serving a 12-year sentence for stabbing his former girlfriend in 2017.
At least 14 state Department of Corrections and Community Supervision (DOCCS) guards were involved in his assault on December 9, 2024, which was captured on the body-worn cameras (BWCs) of four of them. The video showed Brooks handcuffed behind his back after arriving in the prison’s sally port, from which the guards took him to an infirmary examination bed. Over the next 20 minutes—with his hands still cuffed behind his back—he was repeatedly punched, kicked and choked by at least five of the guards. One of the guards also appeared to stomp on the prisoner’s genitals.
Nurse Kyle Dashnaw treated Brooks after he became unresponsive, but he died the following day at an Utica hospital. No reason was provided for the assault. The four guards whose BWCs recorded it were apparently unaware that the devices were operating, James said.
The same day that Brooks died, one of the guards filmed punching him, Anthony Farina, resigned. Another 12 guards were placed on leave, along with Dashnaw. Hochul replaced the prison’s acting superintendent, Danielle Medbury, with current Shawshank Correctional Facility Superintendent Bennie Thorpe.
She also ordered DOCCS Commissioner Daniel F. Martuscello III to terminate Dashnaw and Sgts. Glenn Trombly and Michael Mashaw, along with guards Nicholas Anzalone, Matthew Galliher, David Kingsley, Nicholas Kieffer, Robert Kessler, Michael Fisher, Christopher Walrath, Michael Along, Shea Schoff and David Walters. In an unusually quick capitulation, Muscatello agreed that firing the employees would be “in the best interest of the agency and the communities we serve.”
James also recused herself from the case because she is already defending four of the guards involved in separate civil suits. In one, Kessler was accused of a September 2024 assault on Marcy prisoner Corey W. Rasnick, 29, whose pro se complaint alleged that he was left with a broken arm. See: Rasnick v. New York State, USDC (N.D.N.Y.), Case No. 9:24-cv-01364.
Anzalone was accused in the September 2020 beating of another Marcy prisoner, Adam Bauer, 51. He is represented by attorneys with Emery Celli Brinckerhoff Abady Ward & Maazel LLP. See: Bauer v. Iodice, USDC (N.D.N.Y.), Case No. 9:22-cv-01007.
Trombly and Farina were accused in a February 2020 beating that allegedly left Marcy prisoner William Alvarez with a “permanent facial deformity.” He is represented by attorneys with Sivin, Miller & Roche LLP in New York City. See: Alvarez v. Bause, USDC (N.D.N.Y.), Case No. 9:22-cv-00186.
Trombly was also accused in another pro se complaint of holding down Green Haven Correctional Facility prisoner Equarn White while a fellow guard stomped on his testicles in 2015. See: White v. Mrzygold, USDC (S.D.N.Y.), Case No. 7:18-cv-08758.
Said Katie Rosenfeld, one of the attorneys representing Bauer, “The fact that they failed to rein in these officers that they knew had beaten someone else is a direct contributor to Mr. Brooks’s death.”
On January 15, 2025, Brooks’ survivors filed suit accusing DOCCS and its employees of using excessive force and deliberate indifference to his serious medical needs. They are 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.
Additional sources: Albany Times-Union, CNN, The Independent, New York Times, TMZ, WHEC, WROC
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Related legal cases
Brooks v. Farina
| Year | 2025 |
|---|---|
| Cite | USDC (N.D.N.Y.), Case No. 9:25-cv-00068 |
| Level | District Court |
Rasnick v. New York State
| Year | 2024 |
|---|---|
| Cite | USDC (N.D.N.Y.), Case No. 9:24-cv-01364 |
| Level | District Court |
| Conclusion | Bench Verdict |
Alvarez v. Bause
| Year | 2020 |
|---|---|
| Cite | USDC (N.D.N.Y.), Case No. 9:22-cv-00186 |
| Level | District Court |
| Conclusion | Bench Verdict |
White v. Mrzygold
| Year | 2015 |
|---|---|
| Cite | USDC (S.D.N.Y.), Case No. 7:18-cv-08758 |
| Level | District Court |
| Conclusion | Bench Verdict |