CHILD WARNING EFFORTPOST Darrel Brooks Waukesha Christmas Parade Attack Write Up

The Location

Waukesha, a western suburb of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, has an annual traditional Christmas parade downtown. In 2020, the parade was cancelled due to COVID-19 . The 2021 parade, the 58th annual event, featured more than 60 entries and had the theme "Comfort and Joy".

Who Is Darrell E. Brooks Jr?

39-year-old Darrell Edward Brooks Jr. (born February 21, 1982) Who also went by (MathBoi Fly) as a soundcloud rapper, has an extensive criminal record dating back to September 1999.

Brooks had posted bail earlier this month in a separate domestic abuse case, court records show. He is charged with resisting or obstructing an officer, bail jumping, recklessly endangering safety, disorderly conduct and battery, the records show. He appeared in court Nov. 12 and was scheduled for another hearing the next month. Prosecutors in Wisconsin admitted that they had asked for "inappropriately" low bail for Brooks on charges related to domestic abuse allegations.

He posted a $1,000 cash bond Nov. 11, the court records show.

His Criminal Record

Sept. 5, 1999 Darrell Brooks Jr. is charged with substantial battery in Milwaukee County.

Sept. 22, 2000

Brooks receives three years probation in the battery case with six months in the House of Correction, a dormitory-style facility in Franklin, after pleading guilty.

2002 - 2003

Brooks is charged with two low-level crimes, marijuana possession and misdemeanor obstruction, in Milwaukee County. He is sentenced to a total of 70 days in the House of Correction.

Feb. 21, 2005

Brooks is charged with obstruction in Manitowoc County. He later fails to appear in court and a judge issues a bench warrant.

November 2006

Brooks is convicted of statutory sexual seduction after impregnating a 15-year-old girl in Sparks, Nevada. He is required to register as a sex offender.

A year later, Brooks wrote to the judge to ask for more credit for the time served. In the letter, he said he grew up in Milwaukee without a father but had a supportive mother. He said he was hospitalized for mental health conditions at age 12.

2007

A documentary about methamphetamine addiction called "Crystal Darkness" is released. It features an interview with Brooks while he was jailed in Reno, Nevada.

"You actually become the drug, not even a human being," Brooks says.

Aug. 5, 2009

Brooks is back in Wisconsin. He pleads no contest and is found guilty in the 2005 Manitowoc obstruction case. He is sentenced to two days (time served).

Feb. 24, 2010

Brooks is charged with strangulation, battery and criminal damage to property in Wood County after a woman told police he had shoved her to the ground during an argument and grabbed her throat.

Aug. 30, 2010

Brooks pleads no-contest to the strangulation charge and is found guilty. The other counts are dismissed as part of a plea agreement. He is sentenced to 90 days in jail with work release and three years probation.

March 25, 2011

Brooks is charged with resisting an officer in Milwaukee County after trying to flee a traffic stop when officers stopped him for not wearing a seatbelt.

During the stop, Brooks turned on his car and put it in drive. The officer says he feared Brooks was going to run him over.

Aug. 1, 2011

His probation is revoked from the Wood County strangulation case and he is sent to jail for 11 months.

May 15, 2012

Brooks pleads guilty in the resisting case from the Milwaukee traffic stop and is sentenced to 37 days in the House of Correction.

Nov. 20, 2012

A sex offender sweep in Nevada finds Brooks had provided a false address on his registration.

June 23, 2016

Police in Sparks, Nevada, arrest Brooks for failing to obey sex offender laws. He had not been in compliance with the registry since 2008.

Brooks posts bail in the case but later fails to appear in court. A warrant is issued for his arrest.

It's unclear exactly when Brooks moves back to Wisconsin after this, but once he did so, he had 10 days to register in Wisconsin. He never did.

Despite his repeated contacts with Wisconsin law enforcement, no one here realized he was a sex offender until after the parade attack.

July 28, 2020

Brooks is accused of shooting at a relative and the relative's friend during an argument in Milwaukee. No one is injured in the shooting.

He is charged with two counts of second-degree recklessly endangering safety and one count of felon in possession of a firearm.

A transcript of his initial appearance shows a prosecutor recommended $15,000 bail.

Brooks' attorney asked the judge to follow the pretrial risk assessment which recommended a signature bond — meaning a promise to appear with a monetary penalty if you fail to do so — or to set it at $500.

Judge David Feiss sets bail at $10,000.

Aug. 7, 2020

Brooks enters a speedy trial demand in the shooting case.

Aug. 13, 2020

Brooks' attorney argues for lower bail. Feiss, the judge, agrees and sets it at $7,500.

Feb. 9, 2021

Brooks is scheduled for a jury trial but his trial cannot proceed because of another ongoing trial in the courtroom. His case is postponed and bail lowered to $500, which is posted days later.

March 26, 2021

A Waukesha County prosecutor asks for Brooks to be found in contempt of court and violation of court orders in a long-running child support case.

Brooks gets a stayed sentence of 120 days in jail with work release privileges to be imposed anytime in the next two years if doesn't make his monthly payments in full.

May 27, 2021

Brooks is arrested by police in Union City, Georgia, in a domestic violence case. A man tells police he confronted Brooks after hearing what sounded like Brooks beating a woman on the other side of a wall in a hotel.

May 28, 2021

Brooks makes his first court appearance in Georgia and receives a signature bond, meaning he signed a document promising to show up for future court dates. He later misses an October 2021 court date.

June 21, 2021

Brooks appears in Milwaukee County court in person with his attorney for a status hearing in his 2020 shooting case.

June 28, 2021

Brooks' jury trial in the 2020 shooting case is scheduled to start. Instead, the trial is postponed "due to court congestion," meaning other cases needed to be heard in the courtroom.

Nov. 2, 2021

A woman tells Milwaukee police that Brooks punched and drove over her leg during an argument at a gas station.

Brooks is arrested and booked into Milwaukee County Jail. As part of the intake process, sheriff's deputies checked the National Crime Information Center for his background.

The years-long open warrant for skipping court in Nevada and his recent arrest in Georgia had not been entered by those agencies, so they did not appear in the report.

Nov. 3, 2021

Brooks calls his mother from Milwaukee County Jail and says prosecutors can't pursue the domestic violence case if the victim does not cooperate. Jail calls are recorded.

Nov. 4, 2021

Brooks calls the victim in the domestic violence case. It is the first of several calls trying to get her to recant, or take back, her account to police.

Nov. 5, 2021

Brooks is charged with running over the woman at the gas station.

He faces counts of felony bail jumping, second-degree recklessly endangering safety, resisting an officer, disorderly conduct and battery, with several domestic abuse assessments attached to the charges.

The prosecutor looked at the bail Brooks had posted in his 2020 Milwaukee County case — $500 — and doubled it, recommending he be held on $1,000.

Court Commissioner Cedric Cornwall agreed and set bail at that amount, even though the county's pretrial risk assessment showed Brooks to be at fairly high risk for release from jail.

The prosecutor's recommendation was later described as “inappropriately low” by her boss, Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm.

Nov. 11, 2021

Brooks' mother posts his $1,000 bail in the domestic violence case.

Nov. 16, 2021

Brooks is released from Milwaukee County Jail. He has a "hold" from the Waukesha County Sheriff's Department related to his open child-support case. Brooks is taken directly to Waukesha County Jail.

Brooks appears before Waukesha County Court Commissioner David Herring. The prosecutor wants the jail time to be imposed immediately. Brooks says he could not pay because he was in custody for six months in Georgia, from about April to September.

Herring issues a stay, or postpones, the jail-time order and allows Brooks to be released on his own recognizance in the paternity case.

No one in court that day checks Wisconsin's online court records, which showed Brooks had appeared in person in Milwaukee County in June — in the middle of the timeframe he said he was in custody in Georgia.

Nov. 21, 2021

Police say Brooks is involved in a "domestic disturbance" and then drives through the Waukesha Christmas Parade route

The Attack

1/2. On November 21, 2021, The Waukesha Christmas parade got underway at 4pm on Sunday, around 4:39 p.m, Brooks was seen speeding along the route, moving at about 40 miles per hour (64 km/h) when the red Ford Escape is first caught on camera driving west along Main Street in the same direction the parade is heading. The SUV, is seen driving past an apartment building with a police officer giving chase on foot. Nobody is hit by the car at this point, with the driver seeming to direct the vehicle between the marchers and spectators sitting at the side of the road, past barricades and through the annual Christmas parade in Waukesha moving at about 40 miles per hour (64 km/h)

3. he SUV is filmed passing close to a little girl dressed in pink clothing who is dancing a short distance from the curb, before heading further down the street to where the first pedestrian is known to have been hit.

4. Marching band is struck. Video taken from above shows the moment the car plows into the back of a marching band, running over several members of the band as they march close to the pavement. This is the first video evidence of people being hit. After knocking the band members down, the car runs into a group of people further up the street and briefly slows down, before again speeding away.

5. The SUV next appears in footage taken a short distance down the street, which shows pompom dancers in the procession marching towards a crowded intersection. the vehicle speeds through the crowd, scattering bodies across the road.

6. Jordan Woynilko had just stepped out of a pub on main street that faced the parade route when he was confronted by the scene - people laying in the road with others desperately trying to keep them alive.

As he walked down the street, he captured footage of at least a dozen people lying on the floor in front of a Planned Parenthood clinic. The clinic sits along the parade route, which the driver appears to have followed before turning left as Main Street reached its end, leading on to a junction with Wisconsin Avenue.

7. Having turned left at the bottom of the street, the driver rammed through a barricade and drove off as police fired at the car

Video showing the moment just before the Dancing Grannies are hit

Death Order:

The Victims

Tamara Durand, 52

Wilhelm Hospel, 81

Jane Kulich, 52

LeAnna "Lee" Owen, 71

Virginia "Ginny" Sorenson, 79

Jackson Sparks, 8

Police Response

Daniel Rider was home watching a football game when Darrell Brooks showed up Sunday looking “thin and cold,” he told CBS News.

“So I was like, ‘Oh! This was my chance to help somebody. I'm going to warm him up and give him some food,'” Rider told the outlet Wednesday.

Rider had no idea about the devastation rendered just moments earlier but remembered his mother and his church teaching him to always help others.

So Rider made Brooks a sandwich and let him use his phone to request an Uber.

“He was so polite. He was nice to me. He listened to everything I told him to do. Now, knowing what he just did moments before that, it's hard to even wrap your head around,” Rider told CBS News.

About 10 minutes later, Rider said, he saw a police car driving around and got nervous, then asked Brooks to leave. The Uber showed up a minute after he left Rider's house and his maroon SUV was still parked near Rider's driveway.

Arrest bodycam footage out ide riders home:

The Trial

Wow, ok so this was a wild one that i recommend watching and way too much to fit here but ill post the most pertinent info.

Pre-trial proceedings

Brooks was initially charged with five counts of first-degree intentional homicide. Following the death of a sixth victim, Brooks's bond was set at $5 million, and he remained in custody, following an initial court appearance.The Waukesha County District Attorney said more charges were likely to come and charged Brooks with a sixth count of first-degree intentional homicide on November 29.

Brooks was interviewed by Fox News while he was in custody and he said, "I just feel like I'm being monster—demonized." His mother wrote a letter to the media saying Brooks had a long history of mental health problems and no health insurance to pay for treatment. In December, Brooks was charged further for the November 21 incident, with charges of intimidating a witness and intimidation of a victim, both felonies. He is alleged to have called his girlfriend from jail over several days and threatened her to prevent her cooperation with the investigation.

In January 2022, seventy-seven additional charges were filed against Brooks for the parade attack, including sixty-one counts of first-degree recklessly endangering safety with a dangerous weapon, six counts of hit and run involving death, two counts of felony bail jumping, and two counts of domestic abuse. The latter charges are in relation to two altercations between Brooks and his girlfriend on the day of the attack and the day before.

On January 14, 2022, Waukesha Court Commissioner Kevin Costello ruled in preliminary hearing that Brooks would stand trial due to "ample evidence on all fronts". Waukesha police detective Thomas Casey testified in the hearing as a witness, saying that he and other officers at the scene yelled at Brooks to stop. At the same time, Brooks zigzagged with his vehicle for blocks to strike pedestrians. Brooks's defense attorney Anna Kees argued that Brooks was high during the incident, noting that the police officers who arrested him noticed that Brooks smelled of cannabis and had red glassy eyes. Kees also claimed that Brooks did not intend to kill anyone, as he "couldn't bring himself" to look at photos of the victims. District Attorney Susan Opper counter-argued that all that Brooks had to do was stop and that even if he was intoxicated, he still committed multiple crimes.

On February 11, 2022, Brooks pleaded not guilty to all charges. Defense attorney Jeremy Perri entered two motions, requesting in the first one for a different trial in a different county, claiming that Brooks was unlikely to receive a fair and impartial jury trial in grief-stricken Waukesha, citing the "ubiquitous" Waukesha Strong solidarity movement within the county. The second motion requested a new judge for the case, for which no reason was given. Court Commissioner Costello denied the first motion but granted the second motion, reassigning the case from Judge Michael Bohren to Chief Judge Jennifer Dorow. One month later, Dorow scheduled Brooks's trial for October 3, 2022, at the Waukesha County Circuit Court. Before jury selection, one count of domestic battery was dropped by the prosecutors.

In a pre-trial hearing, Brooks requested self-representation. Judge Dorow considered the request and ruled that Brooks could proceed pro se. During proceedings, Brooks used arguments from the sovereign citizen movement, a pseudolegal movement whose adherents claim that courts do not have jurisdiction over them. Brooks declared himself to be "sovereign", stated that he did not consent to being recognized by his name, asked if the court was "a common law court or an admiralty law court", and argued that since the state of Wisconsin was an entity rather than a person, it could not file a claim against him. These arguments had not succeeded before in criminal trials; Judge Dorow ruled that Brooks was not allowed to argue that he was a sovereign citizen in court, stating that the defense was without merit.

During his trial, Brooks was repeatedly removed from the courtroom after failing to comply with decorum; some of these instances included Brooks engaging in numerous interruptions, back talking, glaring, and other outbursts with Judge Dorow. On October 24, 2022, Brooks was given the chance to offer the defense; however, due to Brooks's repeated misbehavior and failing to follow decorum, Judge Dorow ruled that he had forfeited his right to call further witnesses (which would have included his mother) and declared the evidentiary stage of the trial over. Closing arguments began on October 25, and the jury deliberations began that same day.

After repeatedly claiming the car couldnt be link to him in trial a music video from his soundcloud was played which featured the SUV in the background

Before giving his closing argument, Brooks asked Judge Dorow if she had instructed the jury on jury nullification. Dorow sent the jury away so that she could warn Brooks, outside their presence, that he was not allowed to make that argument. Dorow cited case law which held that jury nullification was not a proper argument and that she had the power to shut down any argument that went outside the bounds of the law. Brooks engaged in a lengthy debate with the judge, during which he insisted that he be allowed to "inform the jury of the truth". Dorow maintained her position and warned Brooks that if he persisted in raising the issue of jury nullification, he would forfeit his right to give a closing argument. Eventually, the prosecution suggested that rather than immediately revoking his right to a closing argument, Brooks would be allowed to make his closing argument, and the prosecution would handle any improper arguments through objection. The judge agreed. Within the first minute of his closing argument, Brooks argued for jury nullification. The prosecution swiftly objected and the jury was told to disregard the argument.

Sentencing

On October 26, the jury returned with guilty verdicts on all seventy-six counts, after deliberating for a total of three hours and fifteen minutes.

Brooks was sentenced on November 16, 2022. Judge Dorow imposed six life sentences without parole, one for each of the deceased victims, to be served consecutively. For the sixty-one counts of reckless endangerment, she sentenced Brooks to a total of 762 years of initial confinement and 305 years of extended supervision. For the six counts of hit-and-run, he received 150 years to run concurrently with the reckless endangerment sentences.

After conviction and sentencing, Brooks filed for an appeal. He filed a motion for a stay of judgment pending appeal. He was placed on a suicide prevention protocol. Upon his November 2022 conviction, he was submitted for incarceration at Waupun's Dodge Correctional Institution; the Wisconsin Department of Corrections' Inmate and Offender Search tool confirms he is still incarcerated at that particular facility as of July 2023.

Sources:

https://www.jsonline.com/story/communities/waukesha/news/waukesha/2020/11/16/waukesha-christmas-parade-canceled-due-coronavirus-pandemic/6319169002/

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/21/us/wisconsin-parade-crash.html

https://www.waukeshaworks.com/2021-christmas-parade.html

https://www.npr.org/2021/11/22/1057894472/what-we-know-about-the-waukesha-christmas-parade-incident

https://soundcloud.com/mathboi-fly

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/crime-courts/20-injured-suv-drives-wisconsin-holiday-parade-route-rcna6292

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/suspect-waukesha-parade-deaths-charged-5-counts-intentional-homicide-rcna6536

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10230313/Waukesha-Christmas-parade-horror-Timeline-carnage-unfolded.html

https://www.winterwatch.net/2023/08/imagery-from-the-the-attack-on-the-waukesha-parade/

https://www.nydailynews.com/2021/11/24/waukesha-man-let-christmas-parade-suspect-darrell-brooks-into-his-home-moments-after-crash-its-hard-to-even-wrap-your-head-around/

https://www.the-sun.com/news/4118730/darrell-brooks-waukesha-parade-rapper/