MILWAUKEE — In a life filled with memorable moments, a young boy walks across the stage of his kindergarten graduation; a solemn smile below the four corners of his blue mortarboard.
For this boy, it’s one of the biggest moments of his young life and he’s congratulated with a hug from his mother and a photo of his dad. It’s moments like this that he’ll never be able to share with his dad, Bobby Brown.
Brown’s life was cut short on June 14, 2022. Brown was driving a minivan north on 7th Street around 2:00 p.m. A white passenger van heading east on Locust Street clipped the bumper of Brown’s van, sending it sliding onto its passenger side door, spinning almost 360 degrees before righting itself as it collided with a tree. Medical Examiner’s reports say Bobby was not seat belted and was partially ejected during the collision with the tree, killing him at the scene.
At 27 years old, Bobby Brown was dead. But his life is far from over, thanks to his mother Janice Crump.
“He was an excellent father,” Crump said. “He was my only son. There is not a day I don’t think about him, and this man should not be allowed to walk right here.”
That other man is the 21-year-old driver in the white passenger van. Surveillance video from a corner store at 7th & Locust shows the moment of impact when the light on Locust Street is red.
“It was plain as day that this man never stopped,” Crump said. “How can you tell me that you are not charging him for killing my son?”
TMJ4 is not naming him since he is yet to be charged with a crime. He received a citation for Operating with a Suspended License.
For the last year, Crump has diligently worked at gathering video from the day of the crash and putting it together in a documentary to bring awareness to what she feels is an injustice. With video showing the 21-year-old was likely going through a red light at the moment of impact, Brown’s girlfriend, Hope Young is feeling hopeless as she cares for Bobby Jr. without Bobby.
“I feel like I’m in a shell,” Young said. “I’m trying to get out, but I know I’ll never be able to get out because he’s not coming back. I just got to face reality. I have to be strong for my kids because I know he will want me to be strong for them. What hurts me the most is someone really killed him and, I feel like they just got away, and he didn't deserve that.”
“I just screamed,” Crump said after she saw the surveillance video. “I ended up getting sick. I was sick for a whole week.”
The District Attorney provided a statement to the I-Team in May about why the 21-year-old was never charged.
“No criminal charge will be issued here because we cannot prove [the 21-year-old] received notice of his suspended status, which is one of the elements of the crime that we must prove. Apparently, the method of notice to [him] was standard U.S. mail to his last address known to DOT.”
Crump and her family met with the District Attorney in June, nearly a year since the deadly crash, to review the case again at the family’s request. Chief Deputy District Attorney Kent Lovern provided this statement about reviewing the case again:
“This particular matter is being reviewed again to determine if there is any criminal negligence here warranting a charge. Fatal accidents caused by ordinary negligence are handled in the civil justice system. Negligence that becomes criminal is at a much higher level than ordinary negligence. In order for a person to be charged with criminal negligence, that person must know that their conduct alone created a substantial and unreasonable risk of death or great bodily harm to another. Reaching this conclusion requires analyzing the conduct of both parties to an accident and how their actions may have contributed to the fatality.”
Analyzing the conduct of both drivers in the crash will likely require the DA to look at the timing of the traffic light at the time of the crash. According to the Department of Public Works, the roughly 750 intersections in the city have a specific amount of time that lights are green, yellow and red. The I-Team will dive deeper into this process Thursday with answers from City Officials and take another look at surveillance video of the crash.
Check out part 2 of this story: STOP! Red lights are scientifically timed to keep you safe
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