The man accused of intentionally driving his SUV into a crowd of Christmas parade goers in Waukesha, Wisconsin, last year, killing six people and injuring dozens more, was represented as proceedings in his manslaughter trial began Thursday, amid concerns about his mental health.
Darrell E. Brooks, 40, has been identified as the driver of a red SUV that plowed into a crowd of people celebrating the city’s Christmas parade on Nov. 21, 2021, turning a joyous afternoon into carnage.
Brooks had been released from jail less than two weeks earlier in a domestic abuse case on $1,000 bail that prosecutors have since said was “inappropriately low.” In that case, he allegedly ran over a woman he said was the mother of his child, according to court documents.
Brooks is charged with six counts of first-degree intentional homicide with the use of a dangerous weapon and more than 60 counts of first-degree reckless endangerment and six counts of hit-and-run with death, according to an amended complaint.
The trial is particularly unusual because Brooks is representing himself in court and has repeatedly interrupted the court proceedings with defiant and strange behavior.
Jury selection began Monday and quickly turned into a farce, as Brooks repeatedly interrupted the judge, disagreed with her rulings and said she didn’t have enough time to prepare, CNN affiliate WISN reported. Judge Jennifer Dorow ordered Brooks into a separate room to participate remotely and kept him in silence until it was his turn to speak.
“This court is on the first day, it’s 2:15 p.m., this court within five minutes of the start of court this morning had to remove Mr. Brooks based on his vacation at that time,” Dorrow said, according to WISN.
In the other courtroom, Brooks could be seen talking to himself and gesturing while mute. At one point, he put his head on the table and put the top of his jacket over his head.
His court recess continued on Thursday. Judge Dorrow again ordered Brooks removed from the courtroom to an adjoining room, and Brooks could then be seen on video with his shirt off and his back to the camera. Brooks was later allowed to return to the main courtroom.
Prosecutors rejected the idea that Brooks is mentally incompetent and said his interruptions and defiant actions were merely attempts to disrupt the proceedings.
“These are deliberate actions on his part, as we get closer and closer to actually presenting this case to a jury, that he is trying to derail these proceedings and avoid the inevitable,” the prosecution said.
Judge Dorrow agreed, saying she believed “it is Mr. Brooks’ sole intention to make a mockery of this process.”
District Attorney Zachary A. Wittchow began his opening statement by describing how the Christmas parade began as a joyous celebration for thousands of people watching on the street.
“I think you’ll see from the videos that there was a real sense of joy in the air,” Wittchow told the jury. “Darrell Brooks killed that joy. He replaced it with horror, trauma and death,” he continued.
“I’ll defer right now your honor,” Brooks said with a laugh, still wearing his orange prison uniform. “I just need a little more time to make sure I get through the points I need to make,” Brooks continued.
Testimony began Thursday afternoon with a Waukesha police officer and a parade witness who was also Brooks’ girlfriend on the day of the attack.
At the end of the deposition, Judge Dorow noted that Brooks had been on good behavior. “I really appreciate you coming back and following the rules,” the judge said.
“Thank you for giving me the opportunity to come back,” Brooks replied. “I appreciate what you said.”
Brooks had previously pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity, but his public defenders withdrew the insanity plea in September. The attorneys later filed a motion to withdraw from the case, and the judge decided to allow Brooks to represent himself at trial.
However, his mother, Dawn Woods, wrote to the judge and spoke to CNN affiliate WTMJ about her concerns that her son was not stable enough to defend himself. “I hate to say this,” Woods told the affiliate. “You will see manic, full.”
The trial will feature a number of witnesses who are expected to recount the violence and chaos of the day of the attack.
Among the victims were an 8-year-old boy and three members of the Milwaukee Dancing Grannies who marched in the parade.
A video of the parade captured by Angela O’Boyle, who was watching from the balcony of her fifth-floor apartment, shows the SUV hitting a person in a bandstand. The vehicle then continued forward, hitting and running over others in the band and the crowd before driving away.
“It hit at least two people immediately and rolled over them. And then he continued down the road to People’s Park which is at the end of the block – and then he continued, he didn’t stop,” O’Boyle told CNN.
An officer described the vehicle as being driven in a zigzag-like pattern, the complaint states.
Angelito Tenorio, another witness, said at the time the scene was “absolutely chaotic”.
The video shows the SUV crashing through parade barriers
“Nobody knew if it was an attack or if it was an accident or if it was a deliberate attack on the people in the parade,” he told CNN. “People just started running away, running away from the scene, leaving behind their belongings, grabbing their children, calling, screaming, looking for their loved ones.
“And when the crowd had gone away, then it seemed as if I saw people, who seemed to be lying in the middle of the road, motionless, lifeless.”
After allegedly running into people and fleeing the scene, Brooks went to a stranger’s home, asked for help and said he was homeless, a Waukesha resident said. Police eventually arrived at the home and arrested Brooks.
