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Man killed by police depressed, wife says

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By MARK DOUGLAS

mdouglas@wfla.com

Published: October 30, 2009

ST. PETERSBURG - The widow of a man killed in a shootout after apparently taunting police said she had taken him for a mental evaluation just 12 hours before the incident began.

"I don't need anybody to check my head," Kentin Brooks, 26, told his wife after refusing a wrist band at the hospital. "I'm fine."

Alana Brooks, 24, had been concerned about her husband since he fell and gashed the front of his head during a fight in a club several months ago. "I wanted to believe he was OK," Brooks said.

He suffered from recurring headaches, but he wouldn't see a doctor because the couple does not have health insurance, she said. She said he worked as a hip-hop artist and promoter and was just beginning to make a name for himself locally.

Investigators said Brooks opened fire, hitting the windshield of two cruisers, and was shot dead after a wild car pursuit spanning two hours.

The pursuit started when a deputy tried to pull over a black Ford Mustang that was being driven erratically late Wednesday. It ended when the car hit a utility pole on Gulf Boulevard near Park Boulevard in Indian Shores.

In between, deputies monitored the car as the driver sped, spun his tires, did "doughnuts" and even rammed an Indian Shores police cruiser, all in an apparent attempt to taunt officers, they said.

After the crash, Brooks fired from inside the Mustang, hitting the windshields of two cruisers, investigators said. Officers returned fire, killing him.

Three Pinellas County deputies and an Indian Shores police officer are on paid administrative leave as the investigation continues.

Brooks had a criminal record and was released in March 2008 after 11 months in jail for carrying a concealed firearm, selling, manufacturing or delivering cocaine, and driving with a canceled, suspended or revoked license, records show.

Alana Brooks said her husband came out of prison a changed man, determined to develop his rap music career and be a loving father to his three young boys. "We were making plans to go to Disney," she said.

Alana Brooks said that she insisted Wednesday on taking her husband to the emergency room at St. Anthony's Hospital in St. Petersburg.

He had been up for three days without sleep, seemed depressed and was talking to himself, she said. When hospital personnel tried to put a wrist band on him, he refused and stormed out.

Alana Brooks said Thursday afternoon that she still hadn't told their three boys - Kentin Jr., 7, Kentez, 5, and Deon, 3.

"How do you tell your three kids that love their dad with everything they got that they will never see him again?"

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