Chilling Video Shows Cop Taser Boy Riding ATV—from His Patrol Car—Killing Him

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. 

---

 We are the Free Thought Project — a hub for Free Thinking conversations about the promotion of liberty and the daunting task of government accountability. All of our content was created by our team of artists and writers. Learn more about us on our website thefreethoughtproject.com.