U.S. Attorney’s Office Concludes Investigation Into Fatal Police Shooting of Clifford Brooks

            WASHINGTON – The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia announced today that there is insufficient evidence to pursue federal criminal civil rights or District of Columbia charges against a Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) officer for his role in a January 24, 2024, fatal shooting of 41-year-old Clifford Brooks, of Washington, D.C.

            The U.S. Attorney’s Office and the MPD Internal Affairs Division conducted a comprehensive review of the incident.  This included a review of physical evidence, surveillance video footage, body-worn camera footage, audio and visual recordings from an ambulance, witness accounts, autopsy records, and MPD reports.

            The evidence shows that early on the morning of January 24, 2024, an on-duty MPD officer encountered Mr. Brooks outside of a 7-Eleven on Benning Road, Northeast. The officer requested that an MPD Crisis Intervention Officer (CIO) be sent to the scene. MPD Officer Claude Jackson, a trained CIO, arrived at around 6:45 a.m., and observed indicators that Mr. Brooks was experiencing a mental health crisis. Officer Jackson stayed on the scene with Mr. Brooks for roughly an hour before Mr. Brooks ran out of the back of the 7-Eleven.  Officers found Mr. Brooks hiding in a shed behind a nearby home. Officer Jackson requested assistance and assembled officers to extricate Mr. Brooks.  A group of MPD officers removed Mr. Brooks from the shed with minimal force at roughly 8:30 a.m. Mr. Brooks, who remained conscious but largely non-responsive and in an altered mental state, was placed next to a police car.  Firefighters with the District’s Fire and Emergency Medical Services Department arrived in an ambulance to transport Mr. Brooks for medical attention. 

            The ambulance drove towards the District’s Veteran’s Affairs Medical Center in Northwest. MPD officers, including Officer Jackson, followed behind the ambulance.  While the ambulance was driving on North Capitol Street, NW, Mr. Brooks, who was not handcuffed, began attacking the firefighter seated in the back of the ambulance with him.  When the ambulance stopped, Mr. Brooks pushed the firefighter out of the ambulance. The trailing MPD officers got out of their cruisers and approached Mr. Brooks.  Mr. Brooks tried to grab the first responding officer’s upper body.  Officer Jackson then approached Mr. Brooks and deployed his Oleoresin Capsicum (OC) spray.  The spray struck Mr. Brooks but did not debilitate him.  Mr. Brooks then fled into oncoming traffic on North Capitol Street. 

            As he fled, Mr. Brooks pulled at the doors of some of the cars that were slowly driving by.  Officer Jackson and two other officers pursued him on foot.  Mr. Brooks hid under a box truck that was idling in the traffic.  The officers surrounded the truck and ordered the driver not to move and to turn the vehicle off.  After a few moments, Mr. Brooks picked up a metal object that was on the ground next to the truck.  The officers told Mr. Brooks to “drop it.”  Mr. Brooks charged at Officer Jackson with the metal object in his right hand.  Officer Jackson said that Mr. Brooks had a knife and ordered him to “drop it” two more times.  Officer Jackson backtracked with his firearm out.  As Mr. Brooks continued to lunge towards Officer Jackson with the metal object in his hand, Officer Jackson fired his service weapon at Mr. Brooks.  Officer Jackson shot at Mr. Brooks six times.  Mr. Brooks was declared dead on the scene.  An autopsy found that Mr. Brooks had been struck by four bullets, including a fatal shot to the chest.

            After a careful, thorough, and independent review of the evidence, federal prosecutors have found insufficient evidence to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Officer Jackson is criminally liable for Mr. Brooks’ death.

            The U.S. Attorney’s Office remains committed to investigating allegations of excessive force by law enforcement officers and will continue to devote the resources necessary to ensure that all allegations of serious civil rights violations are investigated fully and completely.  MPD’s Internal Affairs Division investigates all police-involved fatalities in the District of Columbia.