Authorities in the US state of New York on Friday released footage showing prison officers beating a black inmate shortly before his death.
The footage is from December 9 and originates from an officer’s “bodycam” (body camera that sits on officers’ uniforms in the USA, ed.).
Here, officers can be seen beating 43-year-old Robert Brooks, whose face is bleeding, as well as being taken by the throat.
Brooks, who was incarcerated in an upstate New York prison, was serving a 12-year sentence for assault. On the same evening that the officers had subjected him to violence, he was pronounced dead.
Letitia James, who is the minister of justice in the state, says that they have chosen to publish the video to create “transparency and accountability”.
The footage shows the inmate wearing handcuffs being restrained on what appears to be a hospital bed. In the video, several guards hold him down as they beat him.
Later, Brooks is seen sitting up in bed, after which he is dragged away by his neck collar.
The preliminary autopsy shows, according to local media, that the cause of death was “suffocation by pressure on the neck”. The full autopsy report has not yet been released.
The video has no sound, which according to Letitia James is due to the fact that the guards themselves had not activated their bodycams.
Kathy Hochul, who is the governor of New York, writes in a statement that she condemns the incident.
– We have no tolerance for people who cross the line, break the law and use unnecessary violence, writes Hochul.
The deceased’s relatives write in a statement that it is “devastating for his loved ones to see the terrible and violent last moments of Robert’s life”.
– We will not stop until we have secured justice for Robert’s memory, the relatives add in the statement.
Police violence has been a major theme in the United States, especially since the black American George Floyd was killed by a white officer during an arrest in 2020.
The episode sparked the “Black Lives Matter” movement, which focused on police violence as well as general discrimination against black citizens in the United States.
/ritzau/AFP
Source: www.kristeligt-dagblad.dk
