A D.C. police officer who had spent about two hours trying to calm a man suffering a mental health crisis Wednesday morning fatally shot him after the man assaulted a paramedic in an ambulance en route to a hospital, according to D.C. Police Chief Pamela A. Smith.
Police identified the man as Clifford Brooks, 41, of Northeast Washington.
The shooting occurred about 9:30 a.m. near North Capitol Street and New York Avenue, one of the city’s busiest intersections. Smith described a tense scene, telling reporters that Brooks ran from the ambulance, darted through traffic, attacked an officer and did not respond to attempts to subdue him with pepper spray.
Smith, citing police body-camera video, said Brooks hid under a truck and then emerged “with a metal object raised in his hand.” The chief said officers repeatedly ordered him to drop the object as they retreated. Two officials familiar with the incident, speaking on the condition of anonymity because of the ongoing investigation, said the object was a long tire air-pressure gauge.
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“The individual continued to move toward them with the object,” Smith said. In a later statement, police said “the man charged toward the officer, grabbed at him, and swung the metal object at him.”
The chief said the same officer, a 31-year veteran who had earlier counseled Brooks, and had been in a cruiser following the ambulance to the hospital, fatally shot him.
The police department has until next week to publicly release the officer’s body-camera video and identify him, unless Brooks’s family objects.
Smith and other police officials on Wednesday described the incident without identifying the man who was killed, pending notification of his next of kin. His name was made public Thursday.
Smith said the officer has been placed on administrative duties, in accordance with protocol. The police investigation of the shooting will be reviewed by the U.S. attorney’s office to determine if criminal charges are warranted. Smith would not say how many times the officer shot Brooks.
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Police said officers responded about 6:40 a.m. to the 2500 block of Benning Road NE for a 911 call about a man suffering what appeared to be a mental health crisis. Smith did not provide additional details of the call or how the man was acting.
Smith said Brooks was outside at the time. She said one of the officers who responded is trained in crisis intervention and is a negotiator on the department’s tactical team. She said he spent nearly two hours counseling Brooks and eventually persuaded him to go voluntarily to a hospital for observation and treatment.
The chief said that officer did not ride in the ambulance but followed behind, which is common practice when a patient has agreed to seek treatment and is not being involuntarily committed.
Police said Brooks assaulted a paramedic as the D.C. fire department ambulance traveled north on North Capitol Street, under the New York Avenue overpass, approaching O Street NE. Two officials familiar with the investigation said Brooks “pinned” the paramedic to the floor of the ambulance.
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Smith said Brooks jumped out of the ambulance and the crisis intervention officer called for help. She said Brooks assaulted one of those responding officers before getting under the box truck in the southbound lanes of North Capitol Street, on the Northwest Washington side of the wide street.
David Hoagland, president of the union that represents D.C. firefighters, called the violence against firefighters “an epidemic” and said other D.C. agencies, mainly the Department of Behavioral Health, should have been helping with a mental health call.
“That is what has been really frustrating for me,” he said. “Why are police and firefighters doing this? Where was the Department of Behavioral Health? We need more support from some of these agencies to address mental health issues in the city.”
Camil Douthit, a spokesperson for the Department of Behavioral Health, said the agency has trained 97 percent of D.C. police officers as either “crisis intervention officers” or in other forms of dealing with mentally troubled people.
“We continue to work with [D.C. police] to support individual and public safety,” Douthit said.
This article has been updated with additional information from authorities.
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