N.Y. Prison Guards Charged with Murder After 'Sickening' Violence Caught on Camera

Mar. 15, 2025

Bodycam footage shows the violent incident involving Robert Brooks.Photo:New York Attorney General’s Office

New York Attorney General’s Office

Charges have been filed against 10 corrections officers in connection with the death of Robert Brooks, an inmate who prosecutors allege was murdered at a New York State prison while handcuffed in December 2024.

Nicholas Anzalone, David Kingsley, Anthony Farina, Christopher Walrath, Mathew Galliher and an additional suspect — whose name was redacted from a grand jury indictment — have each been charged with second-degree murder and first-degree manslaughter.

Galliher was additionally charged with second-degree gang assault, and Anzalone was charged with filing a false report.

Michael Mashaw, Michael Fisher and David Walters are charged with second-degree manslaughter.

Nicholas Gentile is charged with tampering with physical evidence.

“Robert Brooks should be alive today,” New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said in a Thursday, Feb. 20, statement. “The brutal attack on Mr. Brooks was sickening, and I immediately moved to terminate the employment of those involved. Now, the perpetrators have been rightfully charged with murder and State Police are making arrests.”

Brooks’ son Robert called the charges against the officers a “necessary and important step toward accountability.”

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Per the document, the corrections officers “did nothing to restrain each other, did nothing to stop the beatings and failed to immediately order medical assistance for Mr. Brooks.”

According to the document, Mashaw, the ranking corrections officer in the infirmary emergency room, along with Walters and Fisher, failed to intervene during the attack. Walters, per the document, “verbally instructed the nurse not to enter the emergency room.”

Anzalone was further charged with first-degree offering a false instrument for filing for allegedly falsifying paperwork required after use of force incidents. Gentile was charged with tampering with physical evidence for allegedly cleaning “the area of Robert Brooks’ blood stains in an effort to conceal the existence of said assault."

Brooks died due to multiple blunt force injuries and compression to the neck, Brooks family attorney Elizabeth Mazur told PEOPLE.

At the time of his death, Brooks was serving a 12-year sentence after he pleaded guilty to stabbing a former girlfriend, according to court and prison documents,The New York Timesreported.

“It’s really hard to get justice in cases like these,” says Mazur. “And I think seeing these officers face criminal charges is one piece of getting justice for this family. They very much want to see some broader changes to make sure that no one else goes through something like this too.”

source: people.com