Detroit Police stonewall investigation into Taser death of 15-year-old
By
Robert Verdine
9 September 2017
Detroit
police have yet to release any information on their investigation into the
death of 15-year-old Damon Grimes at the hands of a Michigan State Police
trooper August 26. The Michigan State Police are conducting a separate
investigation.
The youth
was killed while riding his ATV in a working class neighborhood on Detroit’s
east side along the Gratiot Avenue corridor. The trooper fired a Taser at
Grimes from his moving patrol car, causing the teen to crash into a parked
pick-up truck, killing him.
On August
30, a vigil held for the slain teen attended by some 200 people gave way to
expressions of tension and anger over the callous killing of an unarmed youth.
About 20 youth riding ATVs participated in the protest, which involved a brief
confrontation with police. No arrests were made.
According to
an account in the local media, “Michigan State Police said troopers had tried
to stop Grimes, 15, for reckless driving,” but the teen fled on the ATV.
Troopers pursued and one of them used a Taser on Grimes, striking him. He then
crashed.
It was later
revealed that the state police trooper in question, who was identified by a
police source as Mark Bessner, had been previously accused of excessive force
in two separate lawsuits that were later dismissed. Bessner has been
temporarily suspended.
State Police Lt. Michael Shaw reported to Mlive
that the trooper involved in the death is being placed on paid suspension while
the investigation is conducted. A spokesperson for the Wayne County Medical
Examiner’s Office, Lisa Croff, reported to the Detroit News that
the death had been ruled accidental.
“He died in
an accident (which caused) blunt force head trauma,” said Croff, stressing the
ruling has nothing to do with the police investigation into the incident. “The
manner of death is that he crashed an ATV in an accident. We’re not saying why
the accident happened; that’s not for us to say.”
However, the
cause of Grimes’ death is self-evident. The officer fired a Taser at someone
operating a moving vehicle, which either directly caused heart failure or
caused the youth to lose control of the vehicle.
It should be
noted that riding ATVs is a popular pastime on Detroit’s east side and in the
metropolitan area as a whole. Although technically illegal to ride on city
roads, it is outrageous that a misdemeanor should lead to what amounts to an
extra-judicial execution.
Dezajanai, a 17-year-old youth involved in the
vigil, told the Detroit News it was normal for people in
Detroit’s east side neighborhoods to ride ATVs in the street and that she used
to ride her ATV with Damon all the time.
“We’re here
tonight for him. To send him off right,” said Dezajanai. “This is my ATV, he
just got his a month ago.”
According to records reviewed by the Detroit
N ews, Bessner and other state troopers were sued in a 2013
federal case in which the lawsuit claimed that Bessner and a group of other
troopers “spotted Martin McCurtis outside Sinai-Grace Hospital’s emergency room
and attacked him for no reason.”
The News account continued,
citing the lawsuit, “Bessner repeatedly struck the plaintiff’s body and
gratuitously kneed him in his face and head multiple times as plaintiff was
lying defenseless on the ground. The other defendants joined in the unprovoked
physical assault of plaintiff.” In addition, the federal suit goes on to say
that police sought a warrant against the man for resisting and obstructing a
police office. This request was refused by the Wayne County Prosecutor’s
Office. The case was later settled by an agreement between the parties
involved.
In a second
case, Bessner allegedly Tasered the plaintiff on “multiple and continuous
occasions with the specific intent of inflicting pain,” including after the
plaintiff was in handcuffs.
The family
of Damon Grimes has filed a $50 million dollar lawsuit against Bessner for
their son’s death. The family’s attorney, Jeffrey Fieger, told the press. “I
cannot conceive, under any set of circumstances, a justification for a police
officer doing a drive-by shooting of a child on an ATV.” He continued, “Under
no circumstance should any police officer ever shoot like a cowboy out of his
vehicle.”
The death of
Damon Grimes is yet another appalling example of police violence, and among the
most recent in a continuing series of extrajudicial killings by the police in
American cities. As of the time of this writing, Killedbypolice.net reports
that there have been 826 deaths at the hands of police since the start of 2017.
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