New York AG expands probe into death after police Taser, pepper spray use

The attorney general has widened scrutiny of Marcus Burks’ death, moving the case from a preliminary assessment to a full investigation after receiving new information. That shift signals that investigators now see enough in the record to ask a harder question: whether police conduct may have contributed to the 39-year-old Newburgh man’s death after officers used pepper spray and at least one Taser.

Burks died after an encounter with members of the New York State Police and the City of Newburgh Police Department on Jan. 1, 2026, at 10:32 p.m., according to the New York Attorney General’s Office of Special Investigation. State police tried to stop him on State Route 17K for a nonworking headlight, and the attorney general’s office says Burks continued driving at a high rate of speed before his vehicle crashed into another car. After the crash, officers attempted to restrain him, used pepper spray and at least one Taser, and Burks became unresponsive. He was taken to a local hospital and pronounced dead.

The upgrade matters because OSI does not open every case at the same level. The office said it assesses all police-related deaths under New York Executive Law Section 70-b and moves from assessment to full investigation when the evidence suggests an officer may have caused the death. OSI handles more than 200 investigations a year, a volume that makes the Burks case one of many, but the legal threshold for a full probe is the key indicator that the office sees unresolved questions worth pursuing.

Those questions have sharpened as Burks’ family, represented by attorney Michael Sussman, has pressed for answers about what happened after the restraint. The family says it is still waiting for an autopsy and toxicology report. In body-camera video released by the family’s lawyer, Burks can be heard saying he cannot breathe repeatedly while officers hold him face-down and pepper spray is used. The family has also said it was told by State Police that Burks died in a car accident, but that it was given little explanation beyond that.

Public officials in Newburgh have largely declined to discuss the case in detail, saying it remains under state investigation. Mayor Torrance Harvey said, “I can’t speak at all,” because of the attorney general’s review. Police-policy expert Dr. Tyron Pope said the central issue is whether officers moved quickly enough from restraint to medical care once Burks showed signs of distress. That question will now sit at the center of the state’s expanded review, with the next milestones likely to come through the release of findings, and possibly a public report or grand jury action.