Family and friends of Hudson Brooks – the young man who was shot and killed by police two years ago – plan to return to his memorial Tuesday evening to protest the length of time it is taking for Crown counsel to make a decision on charges.
“They have nothing for me. That’s just unacceptable,” Brooks’ mother, Jennifer Brooks, told Peace Arch News Monday. “What it’s about is getting Crown counsel to hear us, to realize we are not going to give up our fight.
“I’m at my wit’s end.”
Hudson Brooks, 20, died around 2:30 a.m. on July 18, 2015, after what police initially described as a physical struggle outside of the South Surrey RCMP detachment, located in the 1800-block of 152 Street.
His mother learned more details of the incident in August 2016, when officials with the Independent Investigations Office told her that her son had been unarmed and was shot at close range – not by officers who initially responded to the report by vehicle, but when he ran up to two other officers who had come out of the District 5 office.
Two months later, the IIO announced that a report would be filed to Crown counsel “for consideration of charges” in connection with Brooks’ death – a step “required when the chief civilian director considers that an officer may have committed an offence under any enactment,” a news release at the time stated.
This past March, further details came to light when a YouTube user posted an audio recording identified as an exchange between emergency officials on the morning Brooks was killed. The recording includes a statement by a female officer indicating “(I) think I shot myself.”
Jennifer Brooks said Monday she is frustrated that two years after her son’s “unnecessary, cowardly, horrific” death, she is still waiting for justice.
“It seems like yesterday it happened and forever since I’ve seen him,” she said, noting that a “dismissive” response from a Crown liaison two weeks ago, when she last inquired about the status of the file, “gave me the strength… to rally again.”
She said the protest will be a peaceful one.
“I’m not discounting the fact that they’re working hard on it,” she said. “What else is there to work on? They’re not saying anything.”