Family files federal civil rights lawsuit following killing of Robert L. Brooks in New York prison

View the press conference announcing the lawsuit filed on January 15, 2025. Pictured: Faraci Lange Attorney Partner Stephen Schwarz, Robert Brooks Jr., Jared Ricks, HSPRD Partner Elizabeth Mazur. WKTV Live Stream

ROCHESTER, NY (Wednesday, January 15, 2025)– The family of Robert L. Brooks, Sr. filed a federal civil rights lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of New York on Wednesday following the December 9, 2024 fatal beating of Mr. Brooks by correctional officers in Marcy Correctional Facility in Marcy, New York. Relatives of Brooks and their attorneys announced the lawsuit at a press conference in Rochester, Mr. Brooks’s hometown. 

Body worn camera footage of Mr. Brooks’ brutal killing shocked the country when the New York Attorney General’s Office released it to the public on December 27, 2024. That video footage can be viewed here.

The complaint, which can be reviewed here, alleges “excessive force” and “deliberate indifference” on the part of at least 17 defendants, and includes a demand for a jury trial and compensatory and punitive damages for the estate of Mr. Brooks.  

The family members are represented by Hughes Socol Piers Resnick & Dym, Ltd. and the Rochester-based Faraci Lange, LLP. The firms also handled the Rochester-based case of the killing of Daniel Prude in 2020, which yielded a $12 million settlement for Prude’s estate.

“As Marcy staff beat Robert to death, they obviously believed that their actions would never see the light of day. After killing Robert, they went about their daily business as usual,” said Elizabeth Mazur of Hughes Socol Piers Resnick & Dym. “Although the video is difficult to watch, it holds a mirror up to the violence and abuse Marcy prisoners face on a regular basis. It reveals what Marcy staff will do when they believe no one is watching.” 

“Our family is devastated. But we are also committed. We are going to use our agony to fight for justice, so that no one has to watch clips of devastation 30 minutes at a time, or go through the plethora of emotions that I’ve gone through in the last month,” said Jared Ricks, brother of Robert L. Brooks, Sr. “We want these killers prosecuted. We want change.” 

“While my father was serving out his sentence, we would communicate regularly. Together, we had begun to dream about a new life together when he got out,” said Robert L. Brooks, Jr., Mr. Brooks’s son. “Those officers, and the system they work for, robbed us of those dreams. I will never get my father back. They have taken him from me forever. But we will not allow his death to be in vain.”

“It is the sincere desire of Robert’s son, Robert Jr, his brother Jared, and his entire family, that Robert’s tragic death not be an end, but a beginning.  A beginning to true prison reform in the State of New York after years of lip service,” said attorney Stephen Schwarz of Faraci Lange, LLP. “Only by using every tool available under the law to uncover the entire story of Robert’s death can we take steps to prevent similar tragedies and unnecessary suffering from occurring in the future.”

HSPRD attorneys representing the Brooks’ family include Elizabeth Mazur, Matthew J. Piers, Caryn C. Lederer, and Kate Schwartz.

Watch the CBS Mornings video here.

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