Stumbling towards her death: LSU student is seen on surveillance footage leaving bar

New footage has emerged showing a 19-year-old student leaving a Baton Rouge bar and running across the parking lot to get into a car with four men – two of whom would rape her, before she was hit and killed by a car.

Madi Brooks, who was studying at Louisiana State University, died in the early hours of January 15.

She had been drinking from 10pm at Reggie’s bar in the Tigerland district of Baton Rouge – an area named for the large student population and the university’s tiger mascot.

Surveillance footage, seemingly taken from across the road, showed Brooks leaving the bar at 1:50am.

She runs across the parking lot behind four men, and appears to hug one of them. The five then walk out of sight of the cameras.

The bar where she was drinking is a notorious spot for under-age drinking and violence, and on Tuesday had its liquor license suspended.

On Thursday they said she entered the bar with a fake ID, and insisted they did not serve her alcohol in the last hour.

‘Even though she entered the bar with false identification, she wasn’t served nor did she consume any drinks at least during the last hour she was at Reggie’s,’ said Kris Perett, an attorney for the bar owner Darin Adams.

‘Reggie’s has voluntarily turned over all video surveillance footage to EBRSO and has fully cooperated with EBRSO investigators since they were first contacted and requested to assist on Sunday, January 15.

‘Also, Reggie’s has reached out directly to LSU President Tate in response to his call for action and look forward to meeting with him and his team soon to work together to address the issues raised in his recent press release.’

A 17-year-old boy, who has not been identified, has been charged with third-degree rape, along with Kaivon Washington, 18.

Washington’s uncle, Everett Lee, 28, and his friend Casen Carver, 18, were also arrested and charged as accomplices to third-degree rape.

All three adults have now been released from jail: the 17-year-old remains in custody and his bond has been postponed to February.

Washington was released late on Wednesday after having his bond set in court the day before at $150,000. 

He is charged with third degree rape, which in Louisiana is often used for when a victim is too drunk to say no.

Lee and Carver were released on Tuesday, with $75,000 and $50,000 bonds respectively.

Prosecutor Stuart Theirort said at a hearing on Tuesday that the state would be seeking upgraded charges of first-degree rape and plan to convene a grand jury in the case.

Louisiana’s first-degree rape statute carries a mandatory life sentence without the possibility of parole.

All three adult suspects appeared in court via a video link and were ordered to remain under house arrest and wear ankle monitors.

The surveillance footage from Reggie’s and nearby businesses show Brooks arriving at the bar at 10.06pm.

Carver, Lee, Washington and the teenage boy arrived at 10.18pm.

Officers say in their affidavit that at 1am Brooks was seen sitting on a stool by the counter at the bar before stumbling, and got back to her feet with the help of the men.

At 1.34am she was seen sitting on a bench by the entrance door before falling again, with the teenager approaching her, removing her cap and helping her to get to her feet.

The group was seen leaving the bar at 1.49am, with the vehicle last seen at 1.59am. 

Carver told police that the 17-year-old and Washington both had sex with the victim in the back seat of the car.

Brooks was dumped less than a ten-minute car journey from the bar before being hit by the ride-share car at 2:50am.

The coroner confirmed that Brooks’s cause of death was ‘multiple traumatic injuries, 2nd motor vehicle collision vs pedestrian’ – meaning she was left incapacitated at the scene but died at the hospital.

A post-mortem revealed that Brooks had ‘injuries consistent with previous sexual assault anally’ as well as her injuries from the crash. 

No further information is being released at this time, with police confirming that the driver of the vehicle will not be charged as he was not impaired and contacted emergency services immediately.

Carver, who was driving the vehicle, told officers that he asked Brooks where her friends were, but she said she did not know and appeared ‘drunk’.

He added that Brooks gave ‘verbal consent five times’ to the 17-year-old before having sex with her in the rear of the car. 

Washington, 18, then exited the vehicle, before swapping with the teenager to also have sex with her.

Carver said he felt ‘uncomfortable’ during the sex acts and he ‘hated it’. 

He said that he thought she was too drunk to consent.

Both Carver and Lee remained in the front of the car while the sex acts were being performed, with Carver telling them to ‘stop’ before dropping Brooks off.

Lee refused to speak to police, while Washington denied that he witnessed the teenager having sex with Brooks and denied that he had sex with her.

He told officers: ‘When I tell you drunk, drunk, she was drunk.’

He requested an attorney when asked for an oral DNA swab.

The mother of the 17-year-old refused to allow her son to give a statement.

They claim that she was in a ‘drunken state’ but was able to consent and willingly got in the car with them before they dumped her at the side of the road.

Legal documents seen by DailyMail.com reveal that Madi had 0.319g percent of alcohol in her system – so high that toxicologists said she could have suffered from alcohol poisoning or loss of consciousness.

An autopsy also revealed that there were traces of THC, or cannabis, in her system at the time she died.

Police say that she was so drunk that she would not have been able to consent to the sexual activity, and Carver told cops he ‘hated’ what his friends did to Brooks because she was ‘drunker’ and ‘impaired.’

Third-degree rape charges in Louisiana relate to a victim being unable to consent because they are under the influence of alcohol or drugs and the offender ‘knew or should have known of the victim’s incapacity’.

A lawyer representing all of the defendants claims that he has video proof that they are innocent, and that she willingly participated in the sexual activity.

He claimed that Brooks was in a ‘coherent state’ and ‘knew what was happening’ – arguing that the footage would prove this.

Ron Haley told WAFB9: ‘She willfully got into the car, said that her rides had left her, and she got in.

‘This is absolutely not a rape. Listen this is a tragedy, definitely not a crime. 

‘Can you tell that she was intoxicated? Yes. 

‘To the point under the law that you say you’re in a drunken stupor, to the point that you cannot lawfully give consent or answer questions? Absolutely that was not the case.

‘Based on a disagreement, she got out of the vehicle. She indicated she was getting an Uber.

‘I want the public to know, these young men or really the driver of the vehicle and the young men that were in there, did not put her off on the side of the road.’

It is unclear if the footage has yet been handed over to the authorities, with Haley saying he would turn it over to investigators and the District Attorney’s office.

A spokeswoman for the DA’s office could not confirm if the video was handed over to authorities.

Brooks’ death has focused attention again on the notorious bar, and on Tuesday the Louisiana Office of Alcohol and Tobacco Control issued an emergency suspension of Reggie’s alcohol license, effective immediately.

The bureau will hold a hearing next month to decide what penalties if any, should be imposed based on the evidence presented. 

The bar owner, Darin Adams, whose sports bar is known for its taxidermy animal heads and confederate flag décor, has refused to comment.

Adams has been in hot water before, with Baton Rouge police raiding the bar in July 2017 and suspending its license for 45 days, after 37 people were arrested – many of them for underage drinking.

In September 2015 a drunk 21-year-old was arrested for waving a loaded firearm at people, threatening to open fire.

The following month, a 19-year-old man was charged with rape after attacking an intoxicated woman who had become separated from her sister at the bar and was trying to find her way home. 

And in January 2016, a star of the LSU football team, Dillon Gordon, 22, was stabbed multiple times in the bar. 

In May 2022, 16-year-old Carltez Tucker was shot dead outside Reggie’s, and a 24-year-old woman was injured. Detectives arrested three and said they believed the shooting stemmed from a stolen firearm that Tucker had taken. 

Adams, the bar owner, told The Baton Rouge Advocate in January 2016 that the student population had decreased, and they had been replaced by ‘a lot of undesirables.’

He told the paper:  ‘It’s the people that don’t get into the bars that are causing the problems.’

Adams responded by introducing a ‘dress code’, and publishing a list of 13 prohibited items including ‘overly’ baggy clothing and long T-shirts, all-white tennis shoes, hoodies, and jean shorts, according to LSU Reveille newspaper. 

Students said the dress code was intentionally racist, with neck chains and bandanas also banned.

Adams said it had been around since the 1990s. 

William Tate, the LSU president, said Brooks’ death emphasized the need to clamp down on bars where underage drinking is permitted.

‘She should not have been taken from us in this way. What happened to her was evil, and our legal system will parcel out justice,’ he said.

‘Our collective grief and outrage cannot be put into mere words. So what can we do? It is time for action. One place to target our attention is the very place where this encounter began.

‘All but one of the suspects involved in this horrific scenario were underage yet were able to consume alcohol at a local bar. 

‘As such, our action plan starts with a deep and relentless focus on any establishment that profits off our students by providing alcohol to underage individuals.

‘In the coming days, we will call a meeting with these business owners to discuss how their responsibilities directly impact the safety of our students.

‘We will work openly against any business that doesn’t join us in efforts toward creating a safer environment for our students. Enough is enough.’