The brutal death of New York inmate Robert Brooks.

It started on Friday with a text from a CNN reporter with a quick request. How long should a sternal rub be performed, she wanted to know. This was not something that could be answered quickly. I needed more clinical context.

Soon after, I found myself watching over an hour of bodycam footage retrieved from New York State prison corrections officers a few days ago. The state’s Attorney General released the videos in an announcement of an investigation into the death of Robert Brooks, an inmate at Marcy Correctional Facility in Oneida County, NY which occurred on December 10th.

What I saw horrified me. It disturbed my sleep last night.

I wanted CNN’s audience to understand what I believe I saw in these videos, from a medical perspective. (Here is a link to a story on CNN.com with some quotations from me.)

Warning: The following analysis is graphic and contains disturbing screenshots and videos released online by the State of New York. Also, everything posited below are opinions informed by medical expertise but are nonetheless conjecture and for hypothesis-formation only. Without more complete video, clinical information from witnesses (others involved in the case), and/or the results of an autopsy, certainty cannot be claimed.