New York Attorney General Reviews Death of Marcus Burks After Newburgh Bodycam Footage Released

Bodycam footage shows Newburgh police officers restraining Marcus Burks on the ground before he died, with Burks audible saying "I can't breathe" multiple times. Now, the New York State Attorney General Letitia James is conducting an investigation into the January 1 death, as the Burks family and their civil rights attorney press for public accountability.

On New Year's Day, Burks sped away from a routine State Police traffic stop and crashed his car into a utility pole, causing the vehicle to overturn. The collision occurred shortly after 10:30 p.m. The pursuit, which lasted approximately two minutes, was ended by the trooper before the crash. Newburgh police responded to the scene. They pulled Burks from his upside-down car and tried to cuff him as he lay face down. Burks said he could not breathe multiple times as officers were putting weight on his back. Then he went unconscious. A radio transmission indicates police used pepper spray on the injured man. He was pronounced dead a short time later at Montefiore St. Luke's Cornwall Hospital in Newburgh.

His family says his mother had died 10 days earlier, and Burks was fragile at the time.

After weeks of delays in filling their public records requests, Burks' family and their attorney shared the bodycam footage from several angles. Civil rights attorney Michael Sussman, who has pushed for reform at several departments, including the Newburgh Police Department, over the last 30 years, was direct about what the footage reveals. "The use of pepper spray on a man who's on the ground literally doing nothing, the response to the pepper spray by that same man, the priority on handcuffing him, the failure in that period of time to seek any medical attention as he's yelling, 'I can't breathe,' I felt needs public accountability. There needs to be a reckoning," Sussman said. He added: "He's alive, and he's not doing anything that appears, to me, at least, to threaten any of those officers. So the imperative at that point has to be his well-being. It has to be, and it wasn't."

Marcus Burks' father, Malcolm Burks, saw some difficult things during his 20 years in the U.S. Army, but watching the bodycam video of the moments before his son died is about as difficult as it gets. The Newburgh Free Academy track coach said he is upset that officers kept pressing on Burks' back after he said "I can't breathe" at least three times. "I would like to have saw compassion," he said. "I saw no first aid. I saw no chest compressions. I saw no mouth to mouth."

Malcolm Burks said he is also disappointed that police later told the family the department was not deeply involved. "I asked what happened. They said they couldn't tell me because it was under investigation," he said. "I was told City of Newburgh Police was not involved in any way."

The Burks family is planning legal action against both Newburgh City police and New York State Police, having already filed notices of claim, the required precursor under New York law before suing a municipal or state agency. State police said they stopped pursuing Burks before the crash and have not shared any video of the incident. Almost three months later, the family is still waiting for an autopsy report and bodycam video from state police that could shed more light on the immediate moments after Burks crashed.

State police and the City of Newburgh declined to comment, citing the ongoing investigation by the attorney general's office. Sussman said that before seeking justice in civil court, he wants the public to see the videos and push for changes at the police department. With the attorney general's preliminary review now open and notices of claim filed against both agencies, the question of what Newburgh officers were required to do for Burks in those final minutes on Broadway is no longer one the city can avoid answering.