OFFICIALS BLOCK RELEASE OF DETAILS OF ROBERT BROOKS' KILLING
REPORTER’S NOTEBOOK. EVEN WITH RELEASE OF BODY CAMERA VIDEO, REPORTERS COVERING THE KILLING OF ROBERT BROOKS FACE DAUNTING GOVERNMENT SECRECY
Dec. 31, 2024
Attorney General Letitia James released body camera footage of the killing of Robert Brooks by a beat-up squad of state prison guards while Gov. Kathy Hochul replaced the superintendent of the prison where Brooks was killed and vowed change across the entire state prison system.
But what officials and police haven't done is release basic details of Brooks' death. They haven't even held a news conference where reporters could ask questions.
Gov. Hochul visited the prison where Brooks was killed, the medium-security Marcy Correctional Facility in upstate New York outside of Utica on Monday, but her visit was closed to the press.
Her proclamations announcing change were made by news release.
Attorney General James, for her part, released the body camera video at what her office called a "virtual announcement." She broadcast a video of herself reading a prepared statement before publishing the body camera video. Reporters did not have a chance to ask her questions either.
Not only have both Gov. Hochul and James not made themselves available for questioning by reporters at news conferences, they appear to have put a lid on the release of information—information that would ordinarily be released to the public.
The clampdown stands in contrast to two explosive police killings Brooks' killing has been compared to: the 2014 killing of Eric Garner by the NYPD in New York City and the 2020 killing of George Floyd by Minnesota police.
A day after Garner was killed, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio and NYPD chief William Bratton faced the media firing squad at a City Hall news conference. Two days after Floyd was killed, Mayor Jacob Frey called for the cops who killed Floyd to be arrested immediately.
"Why is the man who killed George Floyd not in jail?," Mayor Frey famously asked.
A number of different government agencies that ordinarily would provide basic information about Brooks' death are refusing to release basic information.
Let's start with the most basic information, usually obtained from the primary agency involved, in this case the Department of Corrections and Community Supervision, or DOCCS.
"DOCCS: We cannot comment on ongoing investigations," was the email The Free Lance received from DOCCS spokesperson, Thomas Mailey, in response to a request for basic information.
Next The Free Lance tried the State Police, which would ordinarily be the lead law enforcement agency investigating a prisoner's death.
"This investigation is being led by the NYS Attorney General’s Office," the Trooper's press office wrote back. "All questions regarding the case should be directed to their press office."
It's not supposed to work this way. The way it's supposed to work is the way it works in New York City with the NYPD. You email them and 20 minutes later they email you back the basic details.
Still, The Free Lance has been doing this long enough to know there's more than one way to skin the proverbial news cat. Time to get creative.
The Free Lance made a few phone calls. People said some things. A piece here, a piece there. No one at Marcy called 9-1-1 for Brooks and he was transported from the prison to Wynn hospital in Utica by a private ambulance service.
But the private ambulance service won't release the time its ambulance was called or any information. Zilch. And Wynn Hospital's public relations contact couldn't even be bothered to respond at all. Not a "No," just a silent “fuck you.”
Marcy and Wynn hospital are both in Oneida County. The 9-1-1 system in the area which logs ambulance calls by all ambulances in the county has the run times, but Oneida County won't release the run times either. It told The Free Lance to file a Freedom of Information Law request then it denied the request.
"New York County Law, Article 6, §308(4) prohibits the release of records, in whatever form they may be kept, of calls made to a municipality's E911 system," the Oneida County Clerk's Office wrote back. "Therefore, your request is denied."
"Please note that 911 recordings are automatically deleted every ninety (90) days," the office added.
The Clerk seemed to miss that the request was not for 9-1-1 recordings or calls, but for ambulance run times. The decision of the clerk is appealable to another official, and if that official denies the appeal a lawsuit could be filed, but by then it won't be news.
The State Department of Health might have the Oneida County ambulance run times, but it, like the county, told The Free Lance to file a FOIL request.
Meanwhile, the Onondaga County Medical Examiner's "autopsy is not complete."
When the M.E. does complete Brooks' autopsy, it too is not required to be released to the public.
It won't see the light of day unless Brooks' family or Attorney General James releases it, Melanie Drotar, the Director of Public Health Communications for Onondaga County told The Free Lance.
For support, Director Drotar cited a federal law called the "Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act," or HIPPA.
"The autopsy report is a HIPPA-protected document and the Medical Examiner's Office does not publicly release the cause and manner of any individual's death," Drotar said. "That information will likely be announced by the New York State Attorney General."
But no law requires the Attorney General to release it and, if it is a HIPPA violation to release it to the public, what makes it not OK for Onondaga County to release it but OK for the Attorney General to release it?
The Governor's office, Attorney General James, the Department of Health and the State Police were invited to comment, but did not.