Crash driver may have been fleeing from crime
INVESTIGATORS are looking into whether the SUV driver who ploughed through a Christmas parade in suburban Milwaukee, killing at least five people and injuring more than 40, was fleeing from a crime, a US law enforcement official has said.
Marching bands and children in Santa hats waving pompoms were among those taking part in the parade when a vehicle sped through barricades and struck dancers, musicians and others.
One video showed a woman screaming ‘Oh my God!’ repeatedly as a group of young dancers was struck. A father talked of going ‘from one crumpled body to the other’ in search of his daughter. And members of a Dancing Grannies club were among those killed.
One person was taken into custody after a Waukesha police officer opened fire to try to stop the vehicle, authorities said.
Two law enforcement officials identified the person as 39-year-old Darrell Brooks.
Online court records showed a person named Darrell Brooks had two open criminal cases in Milwaukee County.
In one case, filed on November 5, he is charged with resisting or obstructing an officer, reckless homicide, disorderly conduct, bail jumping and battery. Records show a $1,000 (£745) bond was posted on Friday. In the other case, filed in July 2020, Brooks is charged with reckless endangering and illegal possession of a firearm.
Investigators were questioning the person about an earlier crime, which the official described as an argument involving a knife.
Waukesha Police Chief Dan Thompson said that he did not know if the driver was hit by the officer’s bullets but that no bystanders had been wounded.
On its social media account, the city of Waukesha put the number of dead at at least five.
The incident was recorded by the city’s livestream facility and onlookers’ mobile phones. One video shows the moment the SUV broke through the barricades and the sound of what were apparently several gunshots.
Another video shows a young child dancing in the street as the SUV speeds by, just a few feet from her, before it hurtles into parade participants a few hundred feet ahead. One video, of dancers with pompoms, ends with a group of people tending to a girl on the ground.
“There were pompoms and shoes and spilled hot chocolate everywhere. I had to go from one crumpled body to the other to find my daughter,” Corey Montiho told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
“My wife and two daughters were almost hit. Please pray for everybody. Please pray.”
The Waukesha school district cancelled lessons yesterday and said extra counsellors would be available for students and staff. The parade’s list of participants included cheer, dance and band entries associated with district schools.