A D.C. police officer who shot and killed a man that escaped from an ambulance during a mental health crisis in late January won’t be charged in his death.
Prosecutors with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for D.C. said they reviewed physical evidence, video from surveillance and body-worn cameras, ambulance recordings, witness accounts and police reports. They concluded that there was not enough evidence to charge D.C. officer Claude Jackson with a crime in the shooting death of 41-year-old Clifford Brooks.
“After a careful, thorough, and independent review of the evidence, federal prosecutors have found insufficient evidence to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Officer Jackson is criminally liable for Mr. Brooks’ death,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office for D.C. said in a news release Thursday.
Why police were called
The incident began unfolding around 6:45 a.m. on Jan. 24 just outside a 7-Eleven on Benning Road in Northeast. Jackson, a crisis intervention officer, responded to the convenience store and determined that Brooks appeared to be experiencing a mental health crisis.
“Officer Jackson stayed on the scene with Mr. Brooks for roughly an hour before Mr. Brooks ran out of the back of the 7-Eleven,” prosecutors said.
Brooks was later found hiding in a nearby shed when additional officers were called to remove him from the building, which they did, using “minimal force” at around 8:30 a.m., prosecutors said.
Brooks was still conscious but “largely nonresponsive and in an altered mental state” before he was placed next to a police car to await an ambulance.
Escape from ambulance
Once in the back of the ambulance, Brooks, who was not handcuffed, began attacking a firefighter who was next to him, prosecutors said. When the ambulance stopped on North Capitol Street, Brooks reportedly pushed past the firefighters and jumped out of the ambulance, prompting officers to get out of their cruisers and approach him again.
Brooks tried to grab a responding officer moments before Jackson approached and sprayed him with pepper spray, which didn’t stop him from fleeing into oncoming traffic along North Capitol Street, prosecutors said.
“As he fled, Mr. Brooks pulled at the doors of some of the cars that were slowly driving by,” while three officers pursued Brooks on foot, prosecutors said.
At that point, Brooks was surrounded, hiding under a box truck idling in traffic.
After a few moments, Mr. Brooks emerged with a metal object that was on the ground next to the truck, prosecutors said.
Brooks was told to drop the object. After the shooting, a D.C. police official described the object as a metal tire gauge. Jackson apparently believed it was a knife and ordered him to “drop it” multiple times as the officer walked backward with his gun displayed.
“As Mr. Brooks continued to lunge toward Officer Jackson with the metal object in his hand, Officer Jackson fired his service weapon at Mr. Brooks,” prosecutors said. “Officer Jackson shot at Mr. Brooks six times.”
Brooks died at the scene after being struck by four bullets, including a fatal shot to the chest.
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