Day 10 of Waukesha Christmas Parade attack trial: Franklin police officer calls incident an 'intentional' act

WAUKESHA - The first full week of witness testimony concluded Friday in the monthlong trial linked to last year's Waukesha Christmas Parade tragedy.

Prosecutors tentatively anticipated closing the state's case Monday, depending on how much progress they make in a trial that has featured numerous disruptions.

Darrell Brooks Jr., 40, of Milwaukee is representing himself. He is charged with six counts of first-degree intentional homicide, 61 counts of recklessly endangering safety, six counts of hit-and-run causing death, two counts of bail jumping, all felonies, and one count of misdemeanor battery.

Here's what happened on Friday.

Brooks gets into a shouting match with the judge, invokes 'sovereign citizen' claims

The day began with a shouting match between Brooks and Waukesha County Circuit Judge Jennifer Dorow tied to a dispute between Brooks and Clerk of Courts Monica Paz.

The exchange happened as jurors entered the courtroom. Dorow briefly sent them away before admonishing Brooks and telling him he would have to participate in the proceedings from another courtroom if the interruptions continued.

During the argument, Brooks again invoked "sovereign citizen" claims about court jurisdiction and other issues, which Dorow has repeatedly described as a mischaracterization of the law.

"We are proceeding with this trial, despite these disruptions," Dorow said. "I was very patient with you yesterday" when Brooks launched into an impromptu 50-minute speech on his arguments.

Later in the day, after more than a week of verbally setting aside Brooks' court jurisdictional challenges, Dorow formally filed a written order denying Brooks' motion for dismissal.

"It is clear that this court has jurisdiction to preside over this trial to its conclusion," Dorow wrote in her order.

Franklin cop at parade describes 'intentional' act

The state's first witness, Craig Liermann, an assistant chief with the Franklin Police Department, was watching the parade with his family when he said he saw the red SUV driving "at a high rate of speed" and heard its engine revving down Main Street.

After the vehicle passed within 10 feet of him, Liermann saw the driver stick his head out the window and look back, giving Liermann a chance to view his face and hair.

He testified he then saw the driver crank the steering wheel in the direction of the Catholic Communities of Waukesha group, driving through the parade participants.

"Based on his body language, my heart kind of sank, because ... it clearly felt like an intentional act," he said.

Cop sees driver run away from damaged SUV

The prosecution's second witness, Ralph Salyers, a Wauwatosa police officer who was walking with his daughter and their dog along Maple Avenue south of the parade route, testified he saw a man matching Brooks' description fleeing from a damaged red SUV following the parade attack.

Salyers, who had been at the parade but was leaving, testified the driver stopped the vehicle, jumped out of it, looked at the damage, swore and ran off. He identified the driver as Brooks.

Salyers said he was within 50 feet of the man he saw running, but acknowledged on cross examination from Brooks that he wasn't initially sure about the driver's race at that point. But he denied that his description of the driver came from subsequent news reports.

Officer who shot at the SUV testifies

Bryce Scholten, a Waukesha police officer who was assigned to traffic control during the parade, testified he was in the path of the red SUV when it approached where he was stationed at the intersection of Wisconsin Avenue and Main Street near the end of the parade route.

As the SUV approached, Scholten noticed "extreme" damage on it, including a smashed front end. He said the vehicle accelerated toward him, "which is when I decided I needed to use deadly force" to stop it. Scholten fired his gun at the driver, who drove off along West Avenue.

As the vehicle passed within an arms length of him, he got a close look at the driver, whom he identified as Brooks.

On cross examination, Brooks questioned Scholten's decision to fire his gun, suggesting that his intent was to kill the driver.

Cop finds SUV in Maple Street driveway

Christopher Moss, a Waukesha police officer who marched with the Color Guard at the front of the parade, testified about how he was led to the red SUV that was found parked in the driveway of a residence along Maple Street.

Moss was flagged down by a man who had spotted the smashed-up SUV parked in that driveway several blocks south of the parade route. With that man in his patrol car, he drove to the residence and found the damaged vehicle.

As part of his investigation, Moss testified police found paperwork in the vehicle tying it to Darrell E. Brooks Jr., with the vehicle registered to Dawn Woods, Brooks' mother.

On cross examination, Moss acknowledged that he was given multiple descriptions of possible suspects, not all matching each other, of people seen fleeing the area after the parade incident.

In related testimony, Carlos Arechiga Nolasco, a resident at the Maple Avenue duplex where the SUV was parked, spotted the vehicle in his driveway. He saw someone jump out of the vehicle and run around the hood the car and away from the driveway.

Nolasco reviewed surveillance footage showing a hooded figure running from the driveway and onto a sidewalk along Maple. He confirmed the figure in the video matched the appearance of the man who ran from the wrecked SUV.

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Contact Jim Riccioli at (262) 446-6635 or james.riccioli@jrn.com. Follow him on Twitter at @jariccioli.

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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Darrell Brooks Waukesha Christmas Parade trial takeaways on Day 10