By Joanna Putman
Police1
WASHINGTON — The Washington D.C. Metropolitan Police Department has released body camera footage from an officer-involved shooting of a man who assaulted a paramedic, jumped out of an ambulance and ran at officers with a metal object, News 4 reported.
Clifford Brooks, 41, was the subject of a mental health crisis evaluation on Jan. 24, according to the report. An officer with specialized training in mental health responses spoke with Brooks for hours.
Brooks was then transported to the hospital by ambulance for medical attention, accompanied by the crisis officer in a separate cruiser. During the transport, Brooks, who was not handcuffed, became agitated and assaulted a female firefighter/paramedic who was alone with him in the ambulance, according to the report.
Brooks then got out of the ambulance and began to run into traffic. Body camera footage shows officers begin to pursue Brooks.
Video shows one officer spraying Brooks with pepper spray, but he continues to run. Eventually, officers find Brooks underneath a box truck and call for him to come out.
As Brooks emerges from beneath the truck, he is holding a metal object. The officers can be heard saying that Brooks is holding a knife.
Brooks can then be seen running at one officer with the object, despite instructions from the officers to drop it. One officer then fires several shots, bringing Brooks to the ground after he continued his threatening approach.
The ambulance crew began to render aid, but Brooks was eventually pronounced dead at the scene, according to the report.
At a news conference on Jan. 31, Metropolitan Police Department Chief Pamela Smith told reporters that the shooting remains under investigation to determine whether the suspect got into the ambulance willingly. If he did not, he should have been handcuffed and accompanied by an officer, according to the report.