WAUKESHA, Wis. — Darrell Brooks appeared more reserved in his trial Friday, after previous disruptive behavior including outbursts and removing his shirt in court, as witnesses described what happened during the Christmas Parade in Waukesha he is accused of running his car through last year.
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Brooks, acting as his own attorney, sat objecting and cross-examining as witnesses shared their accounts during the parade, and even interactions with him before it started.
The prosecution played the cruiser camera footage of Officer Jeremy Philipps, where radio messages like “Head downtown, I got about 30 or 40 casualties down Main Street!” played in the background.
Meanwhile, Philipps was helping an injured woman and her two friends nearby.
“Other people were coming on the radio and they were stating that there were subjects down in the street then it was 10 people down then it was 15 then it was to 30 or 40,” he testified.
He told the jury Friday the situation kept escalating, so he rushed to the parade scene.
“At that point, I was just trying to assist any officer, EMS, civilian, individual that was around, and it was just mass chaos, carnage everywhere,” Philipps said.
He said he started giving aid to what appeared to be high school band members. “I had face-to-face contact with a few of them laying on the ground there were parents screaming at me to help their kids.”
Other parade attendees, like Holly Berg, testified Friday about the moment the chaos started — when they saw the red SUV they initially thought was part of the parade.
“But it was going really fast and I said to myself, ‘Why is it going so fast?’ and then it clicked as soon as it switched over to the far-left lane — and then into the group of people right in front of me,” Berg said.
Berg says right in front of her was a Catholic community group of at least 15.
“We heard sounds, like thuds, and then it was in the air, like bowling pins,” she said.
Kyle Edwards, another witness, said he came close to an accident with Brooks in the same SUV near a gas station earlier in the day.
“The other driver rolled down the window maybe halfway and kind of stuck his head out and kind of looked back and said ‘Why didn’t you get out of the way?’ and ‘I’m trying to get gas.’” Edwards said.
When asked, he identified that driver as Brooks.
Berg said she observed the exchange, remembering after the SUV plowed through the parade.
“And as soon as that happened, about 10 seconds after, I froze and I said to my mom who was with me, ‘I saw that guy at the gas station,’” Berg said.
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