A police shooting in Baltimore that claimed the life of a 70-year-old woman suffering a behavioral health crisis is raising questions about how law enforcement responds to 911 calls involving mental health emergencies.
Baltimore Police released the bodycam footage showing the moments two officers stormed 70-year-old Pytorcarcha Brooks’ home on June 25.
After one officer kicks in the door of Brooks’ home, his partner says, “I’m going in hot with a Taser.”
The video, obtained by The Baltimore Banner, then shows the officers breaking down another door inside the home to reveal Brooks standing in a hallway armed with a short knife. They shout multiple commands for her to get on the ground and drop the weapon.
She mutters, “Come on,” while holding up the weapon, then walks away.
As the officers step further into her home, still shouting commands, one officer deploys a Taser as Brooks approaches him, but the shocks only stun the 70-year-old momentarily.
Brooks then walks toward the officer with the Taser, who walks back, trips, and stumbles to the ground. Police say that Brooks charged at the officer with the knife, prompting his partner to fire two shots at her. She was pronounced dead at the hospital.
Authorities said that the fatal encounter happened after police received two calls about Brooks earlier that day.
A social worker stopped by earlier to conduct a wellness check. After receiving no answer at the door, he called 911. A family member also called 911, stating that Brooks was violent, armed with a knife, and attempted to stab them.
More bodycam video shows a social worker trying to speak to Brooks through her locked back door as multiple police officers surround him. At the same time, the officers are on the phone with her family members, telling them they can’t force her to open the door and take her to the hospital if she doesn’t want to go.
But moments later, they reversed course.
After authorities fail to get Brooks to answer the door or speak with them, bodycam video shows a fire department employee at the scene approaching her door and stating, “I’m trying to be nice here, Miss Brooks. If you don’t answer my questions, I’m going to have to take you out of here.”
In a news conference, Baltimore Police Commissioner Richard Worley stated that the 97-degree heat that day in the city, the absence of electricity in Brooks’ home, and the odors coming from the home are likely the reasons law enforcement thought they needed to try to enter her house and get her to a hospital.
Investigators have yet to interview the responding police officers who kicked down the doors of Brooks’ home to get their reasons for breaching the home.
“This video, clearly, and other videos, not just here but throughout the country, have shown that we have a long way to go with behavioral crises,” Worleh said.
Worley said Brooks’ home has been the site of more than 20 calls for mental health issues this year.
Worley said that while his officers are trained on how to respond to mental and behavioral health episodes, the department still relies on mental health experts for the most appropriate responses.
“We give them the training to deal with this, but behavioral health is a medical issue that we have to address,” Worley said, per WJZ Investigates. “People who aren’t police officers have to help us address this by getting treatment for these individuals.”
After learning about the 70-year-old’s death, a neighbor told news outlets she believed the shooting was preventable.
“Even if you shot her, could she be shot in the leg or the foot, in the arm, in the shoulder?” neighbor Janet Bailey said. “Where she had the knife and was coming down on ya’ll, couldn’t she have been shot in the shoulder? Did she have to be shot two times and killed…70 years old…I’m saying 70 years old.”
Brooks’ cousin, LaRae Taylor, said Brooks “was a sister, a mother, a cousin. She wasn’t just a ‘mental person.’ She was a human who loved.”
