The suspect in the shocking unprovoked attack on a woman last week in Downtown Dallas has been arrested.
Antonio Brooks, 36, was reportedly arrested on Monday for an unrelated trespassing complaint at a property on Main Street. Police soon realized that Banks matched the description of the attacker who assaulted a woman last Thursday at the corner of Field Street and Elm Street, as seen in video footage of the incident. He was still wearing the same clothes, including mismatched shoelaces.
In video footage obtained by local businesses, the suspect can be seen trailing behind the victim as she walked along Elm Street, apparently unaware that she was being followed, according to a police affidavit. As she waited for the traffic light at Field Street, the man approached from behind and struck her over the head with a blunt object, causing her to collapse unconscious on the sidewalk.
The victim was transported to a local hospital, where she underwent surgery. She will likely also need rehab therapy, according to the woman’s co-worker, Felicia Pitre.
Pitre, who identified the victim only by her first name, Elizabeth, for privacy reasons, said her workmate had stepped away from her job at the Dallas County District Clerk’s Office on her lunch break, but her co-workers became concerned when she did not return.
Pitre and her colleagues later learned that Elizabeth had been the victim of a violent attack less than half a mile from the courthouse where they work when first responders called their office.
“When I saw the video, I was floored,” Pitre said, per NBC 5 DFW.
In the video, three people who were nearby at the time of the attack can be seen walking away without stopping to check on the woman.
“It’s almost like she was trash, just walked by like it was nothing, like she was nothing,” Pitre said.
Pitre and her co-workers were relieved to hear of the suspect’s arrest.
“It’s a sense of relief but still concern for Elizabeth,” Pitre told NBC 5.
Banks is being held at the Dallas County Jail on a $150,500 bond and has been charged with aggravated assault causing serious bodily injury, an unrelated trespassing charge, and a parole violation.
The crime rate in Downtown Dallas is exponentially higher than in the downtown area of nearby Fort Worth, according to monthly reports by the Metroplex Civic & Business Association. Fort Worth uses dedicated police units and private security guards to patrol its city center.
Dallas has been hampered in its efforts to manage crime by a chronic shortage of police officers. Despite recent efforts to recruit more officers, the department is about 1,000 short of the 4,000 recommended by a prior City analysis.
The department’s budget for the 2024 fiscal year was $654 million, far less than that of other high-crime cities, such as Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York City.