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New Video Shows Waukesha Christmas Parade Suspect Darrell Brooks Pleading For Help, Getting Arrested

CHICAGO (WBBM-TV) -- In the moments after ditching the red Ford Escape SUV that Darrell Brooks allegedly drove to mow down Waukesha Christmas Parade participants, Brooks ran to a nearby home asking for help. Ring door video at the home of Daniel Rider shows the suspect knocking on the door and telling the person who answered that he was homeless and had called for an Uber but didn't know when it was coming.

Brooks was allowed inside because it was cold and he was only wearing a short-sleeved shirt. Then, he appears to be using Rider's phone, before Rider asks for his phone back.

Later, Brooks is back outside on the porch as police arrived. Officers are heard yelling at him to "put your hands where we can see them." He was taken into custody without incident.

(Credit: Video via Daniel Rider/TMX)

As police search the porch, one officer asks Rider, "Do you know this guy [Brooks]?"

"Absolutely not!" Rider said.

Brooks, 39, was charged with five counts of murder after he allegedly plowed through the Christmas parade in Waukesha, Wisconsin, on Sunday, killing at least five and injuring dozens more.

He is expected in court at 4 p.m. Tuesday.

Online court records showed Brooks has two open criminal cases in Milwaukee County. And at least six other convictions for violent behavior. One of the pending cases involves Brooks allegedly running over a woman with an SUV.

WBBM-TV learned that Brooks was charged with resisting or obstructing an officer, bail jumping, recklessly endangering safety, disorderly conduct and battery on Nov. 5. According to the criminal complaint, Brooks hit a woman, who was the mother of his child, with his fist and then ran over the woman in a maroon Ford Escape, similar to the vehicle used in Sunday's rampage. He pleaded not guilty to counts 1, 4 and 5. This appears to be a domestic violence case because one of the court entries says two women filed for a no contact order, which the court put into effect. On Friday. he posted $1,000 cash bail.

The Milwaukee County District attorney's office has opened an investigation into such a low bail "in light of the nature of the recent charges and pending charges against Mr. Brooks,' according to a memo released Monday and obtained by CBS 58 reporter Kristen Barbaresi.

WBBM found records for another ongoing case from July, 2020. According to that criminal complaint, Brooks got into a physical fight with a relative over a cell phone and fired a gun at the relative and a friend who were leaving in a vehicle. He was charged with two counts of recklessly endangering safety with use of a dangerous weapon, and possession of a firearm/convicted of felony. He pleaded not guilty in this case.

  • In 2011 Brooks was found guilty on a resisting/obstructing an officer charge.
  • In 2010, he was found guilty on strangulation and suffocation felony charges in Wood County.
  • In 1999, he was found guilty on substantial battery-intend bodily harm, a felony.
  • Brooks was also a convicted sex offender, stemming from a case in Nevada about 15 years ago. He got a 15-year-old girl pregnant in Sparks, Nevada when he was 24, authorities said. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to probation. On June 23, 2016, he was arrested in the same town for failing to register as a sex offender. He bailed out on that charge and never appeared in court. He has had an active warrant from Nevada since then. The police department in Sparks, NV told CBS 2 the warrant was specific to Nevada and not other states. However, it's unclear if authorities from Nevada and Wisconsin had previously communicated about the warrant, and whether authorities in Wisconsin were aware of it. CBS 2 has contacted the Milwaukee County Distract Attorney's Office and the Milwaukee Police Department with questions.
  • In 2003 he pleaded guilty to a charge of misdemeanor resisting arrest.
  • In 2005 he got brief prison time for obstructing a police officer, also a misdemeanor.
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