LATEST ON ROBERT BROOKS MURDER INVESTIGATION: OFFICIAL CONFIRMS NO ONE CALLED 9-1-1
‘WE HAVE NO RECORDS ON OUR SYSTEM FOR AMBULANCE TRANSPORTS … TO/FROM MARCY TO WYNN HOSPITAL’
EXCLUSIVE
Jan. 3, 2025
THE SCOOP: Oneida County officials confirmed no one called 9-1-1 for Robert Brooks after he was beaten, kicked and choked by guards at the Marcy Correctional Facility on Dec. 9.
"After looking into this, we have no records on our system for ambulance transports from to/from Marcy to Wynn Hospital" on Dec. 9 or 10, Chuck Klein, Commissioner of the Oneida County Personnel and Civil Service, told The Free Lance in an email on Thursday.
Klein confirmed The Free Lance's exclusive report, published on Tuesday, that no one at Marcy called 9-1-1 for Brooks after he was mortally injured by guards. The Oneida County Clerk originally denied The Free Lance’s request, arguing it doesn’t have to comply with New York’s Freedom of Information Law when it comes to 9-1-1 calls, in “whatever form they may be kept in.”
Brooks was transported to Wynn hospital in Utica by Kunkel ambulance, a private ambulance service company. Kunkel refuses to provide the run times for the ambulance that transported Brooks, The Free Lance also reported.
WHY IT MATTERS: In addition to beating, kicking and choking Brooks, the prison guards may have also denied or delayed first aid for the mortally injured 43-year-old. That makes it another factor supporting potential criminal charges against the guards for Brooks' death.
THE LATEST: Investigator Ryan Paparella offered the first testimony against the guards in a special State Supreme Court hearing to disarm one of the alleged killers on Thursday.
Paparella testified that David J. Kingsley II was the Correction Officer seen in body camera video killing Brooks at the Marcy Correctional Facility on Dec. 9.
"You can see Officer David Kingsley applying pressure to the I/I's neck," Paparella testified under oath. "You can see him hold him by his neck while other guards inflict blows." He "lifts him by the neck multiple times."
State Supreme Court justice William F. Ramseier reserved decision, although he previously ordered Kinglsey disarmed on a temporary, emergency basis. The case and disarmament petitions filed against three more of the guards is the first high-profile test of New York's Red Flag gun law, first enacted in 2019.
BIG PICTURE: In her first public demand since Brooks was killed 23 days ago, Gov. Kathy Hochul called for charges to be filed against the guards late on Thursday.
"Too much time has passed without charges being brought against the individuals responsible," Hochul said in a news release. "The video of this horrific attack demonstrates that crimes clearly were committed."
Gov. Hochul visited Marcy on Monday. She installed a new superintendent from outside the area, said she was "implementing a number of new policies" across the state's entire prison system, including $400 million worth of new cameras to cover every single one of its prisons, hiring more misconduct investigators and giving $2 million to the Correctional Association of New York, a 180-year-old, legislatively-empowered prison watchdog group.
Also on Thursday, New York State Attorney General Letitia James handed off the criminal investigation into Brooks' killing to Onondaga County District Attorney William J. Fitzpatrick. Her office, she said, was already defending four of the guards who allegedly killed Brooks from federal civil rights lawsuits alleging they used constitutionally excessive force against other prisoners.
Previously, The Free Lance reported exclusively that James would have to appoint a special prosecutor and revealed that one of the guards James is already defending is the alleged leader of the "beat-up squad" that killed Brooks.
WHAT'S NEXT: Three more guards face disarmament hearings on Tuesday in Utica. Meanwhile in Syracuse, Fitzpatrick, the newly-named special prosecutor, will have to decide whether to arrest the guards first and then seek indictments of them at a Grand Jury, or to go slow and take the case to a Grand Jury first.
Gov. Hochul said Fitzpatrick should move fast and do the former.
"My team has offered any necessary resources to help prosecutors move as quickly as possible to ensure that justice is served," Hochul said on Thursday. "The family of Mr. Brooks deserves no further delays.”
For tips or corrections, The Free Lance can be reached at jasonbnicholas@gmail.com or, if you prefer, thefreelancenews@proton.me.