Waukesha parade killer Darrell Brooks Jr rolled his eyes in court on Tuesday as relatives of victims shared their grief and anguish ahead of his sentencing.
Brooks, 40, was convicted last month on all 76 charges for driving his red Ford Escape through the Christmas parade in Waukesha, Wisconsin, last year and killing six people. On Tuesday, Judge Jennifer Dorow allowed victims to directly address Brooks, who represented himself throughout the trial.
At one point he was seen rolling his eyes in apparent boredom, according to CBS News Chicago. At one point he was removed from court as he kept interrupting, something he had done several times throughout his trial.
Sherri Sparks, whose eight-year-old son was struck down and killed by Brooks, said that her surviving son had to deal with PTSD, anxiety, migraines, memory issues and survivor’s guilt after losing his little brother.
“I want to give a voice to our son Jackson Sparks, our family is forever changed. We are hurt, angry, traumatised and broke,” Ms Sparks told the court. “November 21, [2021], was a day that was supposed to be fun and filled with laughter and smiles and instead, it became a nightmare full of fears, screams and tears.”
Ms Sparks recounted frantically rushing to her sons, who were in the parade with their baseball team, when she heard “the car hitting bodies and the thud of bodies landing on the ground.” She found Jackson in the arms of a police officer waiting for medical attention.
“You have no idea how gutwrenching it is to explain to your 12-year-old son that his little brother is not going to make it,” Ms Sparks said as she choked back tears. “Being a protective brother, Tucker blamed himself, he felt he should have done more in order to protect Jackson. It broke my heart to hear him say those things.”
Jeff Rogers, the president of the Waukesha Blazers Baseball team, also described the terrifying moments of confusion during the parade last year.
“We were literally inches away from losing our kids and my life,” Mr Rogers said during his victim impact statement. “I play it over and over in my mind… Pure and utter terror. That’s what it was and that’s the impact it still has today.”
Mr Rogers added: “There has been zero remorse, sympathy or acknowledgement of the victims. All he had to do was stop the vehicle when he saw the parade.”
Meanwhile, Kelly Grabow, whose daughter was marching at the parade, called Brooks a “monster.” She decried Brooks’s choice to represent himself in court, forcing victims and family members to be cross-examined by their own attacker, FOX News reported.
“[Brooks] has given us a life sentence of these memories,” Ms Grabow said. “As a parent, we are supposed to be able to protect our children. And that day, many of us were reminded of the ugly in this world; that no matter what we do, there will always be monsters like Darrell Brooks that are lurking around corners just waiting for a chance to play those parts in our nightmares.”
Katti Pudleiner, the mother of another child marching in the parade, said that amid the awful circumstances, survivors had found a family to rely on.
“We have found a new family – 62 survivors and six who had their wings taken,” Ms Pudleiner said.
Forty-five people, including nine children, requested to speak in court on Tuesday.
During victim impact statements, Brooks was seen shaking his head, rolling his eyes and at times praying. Throughout the trial, Brooks repeatedly interrupted the judge’s remarks and assumed an unclear line of questioning that often sought to downplay his victims’ testimonies.
He was asked to leave court several times, once after taking his prison shirt off and sitting on the defence table bare-chested.
Brooks is expected to be sentenced on Wednesday to spend the rest of his life behind bars.
Each of the six homicide counts he was convicted of carries a mandatory life sentence, and each endangerment count carries a maximum sentence of 17 and a half years, the AP reported.
