By Kendra Bryant
AFRO Intern
The Baltimore Police Department has released bodycam video footage of the police-involved shooting on June 25 that resulted in the death of Pytorcarcha Clark-Brooks on the 2700 block of Mosher Street.
Clark-Brooks was a 70-year-old woman who suffered from a mental illness. According to the Maryland Attorney General’s Independent Investigation Division, Baltimore Police responded to two 911 calls at 1:35 p.m., one for a welfare check and another reporting that Brooks had tried to stab the caller.
In the video, Clark-Brooks is seen approaching officers with a knife after they breached the house, and continues to approach them with the weapon even after a taser was deployed. BPD states that officers had been called to the home 20 times before the incident.
Members of the NAACP are angered by the police’s behavior and are demanding an independent investigation into the death.
“What should have been a wellness check became an unnecessary death,” said the NAACP Baltimore City Branch in a statement. “Ms. Brooks, a grandmother and cherished member of our community, deserved care and protection, not lethal force.”
The NAACP also calls on government officials to take action and do better for the community.
“Baltimore cannot claim to value Black lives, or any lives, while its systems continue to end them so casually,” said the NAACP. “This city cannot move forward until it confronts and changes the system that continues to end lives rather than save them.”
To the bodycam video, click the following link: https://youtu.be/Ap4oLNyumjs
