HARRIS COUNTY, Texas – Brooks-Glace speaks through tears as she remembers her brother Roderick Brooks.
The 47-year-old was shot and killed by a Harris County Sheriff’s deputy last week.
“Roderick was loveable,” said Demetria Brooks-Glace. “He did everything for his family that he could.”
His family called for the department to release all video footage related to the incident.
“I know Roderick, and until we see what happened, I can’t just imagine my brother [lying] there,” Brooks-Glace said.
Roderick and Brooks-Glace are the youngest of 10 children. Representatives at the medical examiner’s office called her after the shooting to identify him because she was his emergency contact.
“To me, Roderick was my baby brother, more of a baby to me because I took over when my parents left,” she said.
In a news conference on Friday, July 8, investigators said deputies were called to a Dollar General in the 2000 block of FM 1960 in response to a shoplifting in progress. The caller had indicated that a man had pushed the manager and grabbed several items before running away.
Deputies responded to the call and said the Harris County Sheriff’s Office sergeant had spotted the suspect south of the store. Authorities say the deputy chased Roderick on foot.
Investigators said there was an altercation between the two men where they say Roderick grabbed the deputy’s Taser.
Roderick’s family attorney disputes the claim.
Attorney Sadiyah Evangelista Karriem said witnesses told her and family members the deputy did tase Roderick and reportedly repeatedly punched him as the 47-year-old laid on his stomach.
“He’s in fear and (the) officer is on top of his back and the bystanders say he was being punched all over his head after he was tased and subdued,” Evangelista Karriem said. “[He] began viciously assaulting Roderick Brooks and then when Roderick Brooks was facedown with his hands behind his back, believing that he was going to be tased again, the officer took his weapon and we know the end of this story... shot him in the neck, instantly killing him.”
Sheriff Ed Gonzalez said a full and thorough investigation will be done involving the Homicide Division, HCSO Internal Affairs Division and the Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences.
The Harris County DA’s office is also doing a parallel investigation.
Minutes before the family held their press conference, Gonzalez tweeted his condolences to the family adding the office is “committed to a thorough, transparent, and timely investigation.”
KPRC2′s Rilwan Balogun read the sheriff’s tweet to the family and asked for their response.
“Nothing,” simultaneously said Roderick’s sisters Brooks-Glace and Sandra.
“It means nothing because we got the end,” Brooks-Glace said. “We don’t know what happened in the beginning or middle, but we got the final. We got the final. We want to see everything, that means his words mean nothing to us.”
The sheriff’s office spokesman said they will release a video related to the incident but didn’t say when.