By Jack Burns
It took nearly nine months and several petitions by the Detroit Free Press until Michigan State Police (MSP) and Detroit Police allowed the body camera and dash camera footage to be released showing the minutes leading up to and the hours following the tasing murder of Damon Grimes by MSP Trooper Mark Bessner. The 16 hours of recordings show the horror, outrage, and insensitive comments made by many officers on the scene. One video even recorded the moment of his death.
As TFTP reported, Bessner attempted to force Grimes to pull his ATV off of the road by shooting his taser at him. The thoughtless plan backfired when Grimes apparently seized and slammed into the back of a parked pickup truck—killing him. The mid-August killing of the rising 9th grader stunned not only the community but Grimes’ family who immediately began calling for justice. They also filed a $50 million lawsuit against the Michigan State Police and demanded an inquiry into the death of their beloved family member. Now, video has been released showing how this horrific incident unfolded. Bessner radioed in the incident. He said:
Give us priority…Chasing an ATV east on Rossini from Reno. It’s a red quad. Black male, black shirt…He’s got a pulse, and he’s breathing. He’s unconscious…He slowed down. We tased him, and he crashed out.
Grimes was killed in August of 2017 when Bessner and his partner were pursuing him. Grimes was riding an all-terrain vehicle on the street when Bessner, sitting as a passenger in the MSP squad car, fired his taser through the passenger window hitting Grimes who then presumably lost control of his ATV and slammed into the back of a parked pickup truck. Grimes was killed as a result of the traumatic brain injury he sustained during the crash.
However, he did have a pulse for some time after the accident, but died on the scene and was pronounced dead on arrival at the hospital. In the video compiled by the Detroit Free Press, some officers voiced insensitivity and others outrage during the teenager’s final dying moments.
One officer, Detroit Police officer Kimberly Buckner can be heard saying, “His pulse is weakening because he was on that fuckin’ thing,” after one officer radioed the uncertainty of whether or not Grimes had a pulse any longer. Another officer reported to Buckner what the MSP Trooper (Bessner) had done to the boy, implying the horrific nature of their actions.
He told her, “They fuckin’ tased his ass while he was cruisin’.” Other officers were not so understanding and failed to realize Grimes had just finished the 8th grade. An officer told Buckner, “That’s a grown-ass man,” he said of Grimes, who was a 6-foot-1, 234-pound teenager. She corrected him saying, “No, he’s 15…. He’s 15 years old.” The male officer remarked with what seems to be heartless indifference and disassociation. He said:
He’s a bad-ass 15…No sympathy at all for bullshit. Motherfucker wanna be grown, ya act grown, you gotta fuckin’ deal with it.
Hardly an adult, Grimes was likely expected to make mistakes by the community and his family. Little did he likely suspect a cavalier rogue cop would attempt to tase him as he rode his ATV through the streets. There was some indication Grimes did not even know he was being pursued by the Michigan State troopers. The footage seems to indicate the patrol car’s emergency lights were not even on at the time he was tased. Another reportedly insensitive comment made by a male officer serves to illustrate the us vs. the public mentality some cops who were on the scene apparently possess. He said:
Don’t run from the State Police, you’ll get fucked up.
Buckner continued to be the voice of reason among the police officers. She can be heard whispering to fellow cops, “They tased his ass while he was driving…causing him to flip and crash.” Tasing anyone from a moving vehicle is a violation of Michigan State Police policy. As a result, county prosecutor Kym Worthy charged Bessner with murder. He is currently in jail awaiting trial being held on a one million dollar bond.
As one member of the community remarked in the days and weeks following the boy’s murder, “two mistakes were made that day.” It’s true, Grimes should not have been riding his bike on the road. And it’s also true Bessner should never have thought about deploying his taser from one moving vehicle to attempt to strike another person on another moving vehicle. One action was a misdemeanor. The other was a felony, allegedly committed by a man who should have been better trained, more understanding, and looking out for the safety of his 8th grade suspect. Either way, it’s a senseless tragedy which could have been avoided.
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