Ted Williams calls for revisiting bail reform following Waukesha parade attack
The Fox News contributor explained he is 'deeply troubled' the suspect in the Waukesha parade tragedy was released on bail.
WAUKESHA, Wisc. – After allegedly plowing through Waukesha’s Christmas parade Sunday, Darrell Brooks Jr. showed up without his shoes, jacket or car on an unwitting couple’s front porch, asked for help and ate a sandwich inside.
Brooks showed up on the porch in the middle of a football game, knocked and asked if he could use the host’s phone.
Daniel Rider’s Ring doorbell camera recorded parts of the exchange in 20-second bursts, beginning about 20 minutes after the chaos at the parade.
RING CAMERA SHOWS DARRELL BROOKS ASKING RESIDENT FOR HELP OUTSIDE HOME
"Hey, I called an Uber and I’m supposed to be waiting for it over here, but I don’t know when it’s coming, can you call it for me please?" Brooks says in the video after knocking on Rider’s door. "I’m homeless."
Brooks was polite and lucid throughout the encounter, Rider said, but he was shivering without a jacket or shoes. And the scent of marijuana was in the air.
Rider said Brooks thanked him for the sandwich and warmth before police arrived to arrest him.
"He said, ‘You’re showing me so much love man; I’m thankful that you’re showing me so much love here,’" Rider recounted. "Because I had just given him a sandwich, warmed him up with a jacket."
Brooks also complied with all of Rider’s requests and returned the host’s phone and jacket before police took him into custody.
Katrina Reigh, Rider’s 24-year-old girlfriend, said earlier this week that Sunday was "quite, quite the evening."
Darrell Brooks, charged with killing five people and injuring nearly 50 after plowing through a Christmas parade with his sport utility vehicle on November 21, appears in Waukesha County Court in Waukesha, Wisconsin, U.S. November 23, 2021. Mark Hoffman/Pool via REUTERS
"He was very polite to Daniel," she told Fox News Digital. "I think Daniel said the hardest thing that he’s realizing is, that guy had just killed however many people and he was so polite, and kind of calm. Then, when he started getting uncomfortable he told him to leave…[Brooks] complied, but it was just crazy. I’m glad everyone’s OK, at least in our house, it’s awful what happened to everybody else."
She was at work during the incident but could see snippets of the exchange through her smartphone.
"[Rider] was just trying to be a good Samaritan," she said. "He said, if he had known what was going on down the block of course he never would have let him in or anything like that -- just crazy."
DARRELL BROOKS FREED ON BAIL TWICE THIS YEAR DESPITE ACTIVE WARRANT IN NEVADA
She said police confirmed to them that Brooks was the man arrested on their porch.
A memorial at Veteran's Park for the victims of Sunday's deadly Christmas parade crash in Waukesha, Wisconsin. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Phelps)
"I guess I was just kind of worried for Daniel’s safety," she said. "He was talking to the police so I couldn’t get ahold of him at first, and I had been getting texts from my parents at that point telling me what had happened at the parade. And we live so close. I thought, ‘What are the chances that this is the guy?’ But it was."
Another neighbor, 33-year-old Sam Eigner, said she returned home around 8 p.m. to find her block closed down and swarmed by police vehicles, including an armored one.
Sam Eigner told Fox News Digital she came home at 8 p.m. following the Waukesha attack and found her road blocked off by police. (Sam Eigner)
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A Waukesha court set bail at $5 million for Brooks in connection with Sunday’s rampage – which saw him allegedly plow through a Christmas parade, killing six people and injuring dozens. He faces life imprisonment if convicted on any of the charges of first-degree intentional homicide already filed. More are expected.
Eight-year-old Jackson Sparks succumbed to his injuries Tuesday, two days after the attack. Police previously identified five adults killed Sunday as Virginia Sorenson, 79, LeAnna Owen, 71, Tamara Durand, 52, Jane Kulich, 52, and Wilhelm Hospel, 81.
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