Nationwide — Tracy Denise Brooks, a 56-year-old African American mother from South Carolina, died after two police officers allegedly left her alone at a closed gas station in freezing weather, despite her limited mobility and pleas for help. Her son has now filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the officers and the city of Greenwood, accusing them of leaving her in a dangerous situation that led to her death.
Her son, Bracy Brooks, filed the wrongful death lawsuit on Oct. 22, alleging that officers Anna Ballenger and Austin Teasley left his mother in a dangerous situation despite knowing she was intoxicated and had difficulty walking. The incident began on Feb. 22, 2025, when employees at T.W. Boons, a restaurant and bar in Greenwood, called police because she was too intoxicated to remain there. The officers found her struggling to walk, wearing a medical boot and relying on a walker for support.
Rather than take her home or seek medical assistance, the officers allegedly drove her to the Five Points area outside Greenwood, where she said her brother lived. But the lawsuit claims they made no effort to locate him and instead left her at a dark, unattended gas station shortly after midnight. Brooks reportedly begged the officers not to leave her outside, saying, “Don’t put me out here. I don’t want to get out here. Take me to jail. It’s cold.”
According to Atlanta Black Star, the complaint also alleges that the officers turned off their body cameras after Brooks refused to leave the patrol vehicle. When they turned the cameras back on, she was no longer inside. Her son’s lawsuit claims the officers used physical force, coercion or both to remove her against her wishes. It further accuses them of violating department policy, which allegedly required them to record the encounter, custody and transportation. The lawsuit argues that the officers could have taken her home, contacted a family member, brought her to a hospital or transported her to jail instead of leaving her alone in freezing temperatures.
About 90 minutes after the officers drove away, Brooks was walking along Siloam Church Road when a vehicle struck her from behind. The impact reportedly threw her into the windshield. Authorities later found her walker in a ditch beside the road. The driver, Bobby Alfred Lyles, reportedly had a blood alcohol concentration of .11, above South Carolina’s legal limit of .08. Police charged him with driving under the influence and driving with a suspended license. The lawsuit alleges that Brooks suffered from the cold, exhaustion, pain and fear before the collision and argues that leaving her beside a dark road exposed her to a foreseeable risk of serious injury or death.
The lawsuit also challenges the police department’s response after Brooks died. Two days after the collision, a police major reviewed body camera footage, concluded that Ballenger and Teasley had violated department policy and recommended that they be fired. However, Police Chief T.J. Chaudoin rejected the recommendation, reportedly calling the decision to leave Brooks at the gas station and her death 90 minutes later “two separate incidents.” Teasley remained with the department, while Ballenger later resigned for unrelated reasons, the complaint states. Through the lawsuit, Brooks’ son seeks to hold the officers and the city accountable, arguing that his mother’s death could have been prevented if they had taken her somewhere safe rather than leaving her to navigate dark roads alone.