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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsI just can't get over the Waukesha parade massacre
My god, this was a community family event. Not a political rally, or a protest. A family event. High school kids in marching bands. High school cheerleaders waving from Christmas-themed floats. Little kids holding grandpa's hand to see Santa and his elves. Street vendors selling hot coffee and doughnuts.
What was that jerk thinking? Whatever he was fleeing could not possibly have been as bad as what he did. I just shake my head in disbelief at the recklessness and indifference to the harm, pain, and suffering that he inflicted. Where did such a person grow up? Was he raised in a barn without any moral instruction about right and wrong?
Does Wisc have the death penalty? If so, this guy has a cell on death row awaiting him. And now, he has ruined his life also. I just don't get it.
Walleye
(31,022 posts)WhiskeyGrinder
(22,341 posts)brooklynite
(94,553 posts)Last edited Mon Nov 22, 2021, 10:34 AM - Edit history (1)
A person fleeing from the police (as indicated) isn't thinking clearly about where he's going, what might be in his path and what he'll do when he encounters an obstacle.
Klaralven
(7,510 posts)Instead, he drove the length of the parade route.
vlyons
(10,252 posts)and made a wrong turn that took him onto the parade route. But even so, he saw that there was a parade in progress and just kept driving -- oblivious to how many people he hit. How could he not see?
PTWB
(4,131 posts)And the barricades were being manned by the police. This seems like more than just a mistake made while fleeing some other crime he had just committed.
meadowlander
(4,395 posts)ForgedCrank
(1,781 posts)For real, you don't think this person saw the hundreds of people in his path well before he mowed them down, and KEPT GOING?
My God man.
Bonx
(2,053 posts)BlackSkimmer
(51,308 posts)Seems lik hes when most people with a working brain and a moral compass slam on the brakes.
Devil Child
(2,728 posts)Line up on a crowd of parading elderly women and an all-girl dance group. He then punched the accelerator and drove through that group before making his escape to back his vehicle in and await police.
His actions communicate deliberate calculated intent to me. Driven home more so with the substance and content of his social media footprint plus robust violent criminal history.
BlackSkimmer
(51,308 posts)He saw those people and floored it.
pinkstarburst
(1,327 posts)"The Milwaukee County districts attorney office emailed reporters copies of the criminal complaints in both of those cases. In the more recent one, a woman told police that Brooks deliberately ran her over with his vehicle in a gas station parking lot after a fight. She was hospitalized for her injuries."
Devil Child
(2,728 posts)snowybirdie
(5,227 posts)in Wisconsin. Even Dahmer got a life sentence. Such a horrible thing to happen at a parade for children!
Haggard Celine
(16,845 posts)I just can't imagine someone doing that who had all of his faculties at the time. That doesn't have to be the case, of course, but it makes it easier for me to accept if it was.
Amishman
(5,557 posts)If his goal was to hit as many people as possible, this could have actually been worse. Yet the aggressively driving through the parade and plowing into several groups was clearly a deliberate act. The contradiction between the two is best explained by major cognitive impairment.
Also expecting a pro law and order response of out this and some major pot stirring by the worst of the right; given the suspect's race, criminal history, and background. Especially if drugs are involved or the rumor about fleeing a previous crime pans out.
Haggard Celine
(16,845 posts)I saw part of that video of his that was posted. Doesn't make him look very good, especially to older conservative white people who watch a certain "news" channel. The timing could hardly be worse, too, coming on the heels of the KR trial.
Sometimes I wish we could go back to the days when the news wasn't broadcasted everywhere instantaneously, unless it was a national news story. It's hard for people to keep things in perspective nowadays when we hear about all the happenings in all the small towns immediately. This nation might die as a result of an overdose on news. There's no going back, though, and besides, if there weren't any social media, where would I hang out?
Mr.Bill
(24,289 posts)calling this BLM's revenge for Kyle Rittenhouse's verdict.
rockfordfile
(8,702 posts)They both seem to hate women. Both uses violence to "solve" their hate.
Bernardo de La Paz
(49,001 posts)wnylib
(21,455 posts)The only thing I can think of as a reason for it is that, in his eagerness to flee a bad situation, he forgot that it was the day of the parade, or didn't know the route of the parade.
But even that does not make sense since he would have heard the parade noise and would have seen the people in the streets. Did he think that he could just plow his way through them and escape at the end of the parade route? That the parade and spectators would "step aside" for him? That they would provide cover for him from whomever he was fleeing?
How do you just run people down?
What a lifetime of horror and sadness for anyone who was there.
inthewind21
(4,616 posts)He knew about the parade, when it was etc.
wnylib
(21,455 posts)of sentences.
If he forgot or didn't know, he surely knew once he got to the police barricades, a matching band, decorated vehicles, and crowds in the street.
Girard442
(6,070 posts)That won't bring anyone back but might save some lives.
AngryOldDem
(14,061 posts)Criminal with a long record fleeing another crime scene. Dont know if the knife fight reached the level of a felony, but prosecute this asshole (if possible) for felony murder if it did.
Unconscionable. How depraved can one be?
Froggyproggy
(50 posts)Not to say that acts like this are ever warranted, but sometimes it really is being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Hopefully, measure will be taken to prevent this type of event in the future.
A few years ago a pilled up young man plowed through a crowd at Mardi Gras here in New Orleans. Since then, the city has positioned city vehicles, barriers, and vendor trucks accordingly so that they help to prevent actions like this from occurring. Its not a perfect solution, but a necessary action to help minimize the chance of a mass casualty event.
JI7
(89,249 posts)meadowlander
(4,395 posts)He's a scumbag.
And if he was still in jail for beating his partners this might not have happened.
littlemissmartypants
(22,656 posts)To "meh" because, well women can't be trusted and possibly, most likely in their minds, are the agent provocateurs.
It's time to start beating the drum that is fully supported by Years of research. Intimate Partner Violence, IPV, is almost ALWAYS a precursor to mass murder, mass casualty events.
As soon as any history of so called "domestic" violence is evident that guilty party should be flagged as at high risk of initiating a mass casualty event. It's science!!
I'm sick to death of the ancient presupposition that allows these lowlifes to escape scrutiny and subsequently leads to these IPV offenders never being accountable for their actions.
IPV crosses gender lines.
It's a harbinger of serious, societal violence.
The evidence speaks for itself. It's been researched to the moon and back!
IPV it's a definite warning sign (and should be the first trigger) for LE to get serious about the risks these offenders are to the community at large.
There is also plenty of evidence that victim blaming is SOP.
The antiquated, misogynistic notion that "wiminfolk" are somehow culpable for these episodes of domestic assault needs to be squashed like a bug.
How many women (trans women and even men) do you think there are in prison because they were forced to use self defense against their abusers? Too many!!
Blame is a broad notion and until we stop playing the blame game and follow the science on IPV, all of us, especially our progeny will constantly be targets open to attack.
The primary sorrow of my life is that we, primarily females are not full citizens under the law in the United States of America and that I will die before I see a time when women, all gender identifying females, worldwide, will be elevated to the equal status in life, and all that goes with it, that we deserve.
To borrow a turn of phrase, "It's the IPV, Stupid."
BlackSkimmer
(51,308 posts)littlemissmartypants
(22,656 posts)DemocratSinceBirth
(99,710 posts)maxsolomon
(33,345 posts)"A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky dangerous animals and you know it."
-Agent K, MIB I
Music Man
(1,184 posts)Mosby
(16,310 posts)Devil Child
(2,728 posts)Mosby
(16,310 posts)Seems premeditated to me. Don't care if he was on drugs/alcohol or just nuts. This shit has got to stop.
Devil Child
(2,728 posts)This is reinforced the more I learn of him.
budkin
(6,703 posts)There is just no way you could pull that off otherwise.
Mosby
(16,310 posts)hamil
(8 posts)he has a long history of thuggery. A street hood such as this feels no compassion for taking human lives. No death penalty in WI. Let's hope he spends the rest of his life servicing the general population in prison.
Devil Child
(2,728 posts)No, he deserves trial. If convicted, a sentence in alignment with his charges.
OneGrassRoot
(22,920 posts)I think everyone agrees this was no accident in that he knew what he was doing and what would happen. And, yes, he intended to hit them. It's not like he thought he could weave through the crowd.
I think the part that is unknown is whether or not it was premeditated. Did he leave the initial crime scene with the intent of causing more harm? Was he wanting to lash out at a specific group of people? Or was it a horrific, impulsive, violent massacre with no premeditation beyond that decision to escape the initial crime scene and then drive through the crowd once he got there?
I believe authorities said it's not terrorism, which indicates to me little premeditation.
But what goes against him is that he does have a history of this specific violent act, so I wonder how impulsive it was?
I haven't seen anyone defend him. People are just wondering how planned and targeted it may have been.
Solomon
(12,310 posts)Last edited Tue Nov 23, 2021, 09:58 PM - Edit history (1)
don't have to think about it overnight.
Devil Child
(2,728 posts)OneGrassRoot
(22,920 posts)Demovictory9
(32,456 posts)Devil Child
(2,728 posts)ecstatic
(32,704 posts)after intentionally running over his child's mother. I think there are officials who intentionally release dangerous people who will do their bidding in order to stay out of jail (hit jobs, drug deals, etc). In this case, it backfired big time and now a bunch of people are dead or seriously injured.
librechik
(30,674 posts)Their reasons are not reasonable, but unique and highly personal. Rational folks will not be able to understand not really.
RobinA
(9,893 posts)career criminal. Those types don't think, they react. He was fleeing whatever and he did what he felt he had to do in the moment to avoid the pain of getting caught. Did he think it through before he even committed the original crime that day? Nope. Did he ask himself if his actions afterwards were going to serve his purpose? Nope. Those types "think" second to second. I liken it to a movie film. Movie film is a series of still pictures with no intrinsic connection. Same with the thinking here. Stimulus followed by reaction. Next stimulus, next reaction. I doubt he even processed that he was in a parade. He just saw obstacles to his flight.
WarGamer
(12,444 posts)Maybe he had left the scene of a crime he just committed and thought "I'm screwed now, going back to prison" and decided to fulfill some evil fantasy about killing innocents?