Gowdy: We need prosecutors and politicians who prioritize public safety
‘Sunday Night in America’ host sounds off on the left’s push for criminal bail reform following the Wisconsin Christmas parade tragedy.
Fox News host Trey Gowdy sounded off on the left’s push for criminal bail reform in light of the Wisconsin parade tragedy that was caused by a career criminal, who was released on bail just days earlier.
Darrell Brooks was charged with intentional homicide after driving his SUV through a crowded street commemorating the holiday season, resulting in the deaths of six people ages 8 to 81 and injuring dozens more.
Gowdy, during his show "Sunday Night in America," questioned why Brooks, a convicted felon and career criminal, had been allowed to post a measly $1,000 bond in Milwaukee County on felony and misdemeanor charges just days before the deadly incident.
"Last Sunday night in Wisconsin it was not Santa Claus coming down the parade route. He is not a career criminal on bond," Gowdy told viewers. "It was Darrell Brooks Jr., a lifelong criminal who has been hurting people for most of his life."
"He was on the sex offender registry out on bond again, running over parents, grandparents and children. This night of joy in Wisconsin ended with agonizing grief," Gowdy continued. "That grief quickly turned to anger because Darrell Brooks Jr. never should have been driving last Sunday night, he should have been in jail."
Waukesha parade horror suspect Darrell Brooks Jr. has a long criminal history. (Waukesha PD)
Two separate judges freed Brooks on low-cost bail this year alone, records show. First for $500 in February after allegedly shooting at his nephew the previous summer and again for $1,000 earlier this month after a woman accused him of punching her and running her over with the same SUV that allegedly plowed through Waukesha’s Christmas parade.
The astonishingly low bail was "all the security these prosecutors needed to let Darrell Brooks Jr. back on the streets," Gowdy observed.
"Now 6 body bags later, prosecutors finally can see, that bond was too low. We already know that…now after 6 people are dead, and dozens more injured, you set the bond at $5 million. So what is different now? He was a career criminal before he killed 6 people at a Christmas parade, we don’t need a prosecutor to react after there are 6 bodies laying on a parade route.
"We need them to prioritize public safety beforehand," Gowdy emphasized.
Darrell Brooks, center, is escorted out of the courtroom after making his initial appearance, Tuesday in Waukesha County Court in Waukesha, Wisconsin. (Mark Hoffman/Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel via AP)
The host and former federal prosecutor scolded liberal lawmakers who have been at the forefront of nationwide bail reform initiatives.
"If you think that $1,000 was the right bond amount for a career offender who ran someone in early November so he could be out of jail in time to run over dozens of people at a Christmas parade, then say so, just make sure you say it loud enough where we can hear you,' Gowdy asserted.
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"And then," he added, "the rest of us need to remember for all Novembers to come to make sure the criminal sympathizers and apologists masquerading as politicians and policymakers are never to influence policy again in this country."