Ex-trooper explains why he tased teen before fatal crash
Source: Associated Press
Updated 11:37 pm CDT, Thursday, October 25, 2018
DETROIT (AP) A former Michigan state trooper whose use of a Taser preceded the death of a 15-year-old black Detroit boy told jurors Thursday that he "absolutely" believed the teen was armed and was "shocked" to learn there was no gun.
Mark Bessner, who is white, testified in his own defense at his second-degree murder trial. He insisted that he believed Damon Grimes was reaching for a gun in his waist while he and a state police partner pursued the boy's all-terrain vehicle on a Detroit street in 2017.
Grimes crashed the ATV and died after he was twice struck by Bessner's Taser, which is fired like a gun and is intended to immobilize people. Bessner fired from the passenger seat of his moving patrol car after Grimes had slowed down.
"It was a terrible tragedy," said Bessner, his voice breaking, "and all I could think of was that this family had lost their son. All I could think of was my daughter, and what they must be going through."
Read more: https://www.chron.com/news/crime/article/Ex-trooper-testifying-about-why-he-shot-boy-with-13336556.php
safeinOhio
(32,688 posts)I would have thought he was going for his drivers license.
Hassin Bin Sober
(26,330 posts)I mean, if there was no gun there they had to be reaching for SOMETHING.
What exactly is reaching for your waistband anyway? I dont think Ive ever reached for my waistband my entire life.
BumRushDaShow
(129,084 posts)and becomes the knee-jerk response as an excuse for their execution of the individual... Since many of these now-dead men tend to wear sweat pants or basketball-style, knee-length shorts, I can't see how any "gun" (other than maybe a tiny one) can actually remain in place in a "waistband". I would think in some cases it would be too heavy and would drop down one of the pants legs.
Most times (on surveillance videos of actual armed suspects) you see guns pulled out of jacket pockets because why? Easily accessible!
Hassin Bin Sober
(26,330 posts)BumRushDaShow
(129,084 posts)but am not seeing anything since Tuesday, so they may not be having a session today.
This site appears to have streamed it when it was in session - https://lawandcrime.com/
(I saw this show up in a google search but the link is no longer valid - https://lawandcrime.com/live-trials/live-trials-current/mark-bessner-live-trials-current/watch-live-fmr-michigan-state-trooper-mark-bessner-teen-murder-trial/ )
Hassin Bin Sober
(26,330 posts)I still havent gotten around to watching the McDonald shooting case in Chicago. I managed to see a few snippets of the cops testimony. Im still trying to figure out how he justified 16 shots into a kid laying on the ground.
I guess my blood pressure is too low. Need to raise it
BumRushDaShow
(129,084 posts)3Hotdogs
(12,390 posts)they are either making "furtive movements" or, even worse, they won't stop resisting when a cop is beating the shit out of them and five other cops are sitting on the guilty perpetrator.
---da fuck is wrong with them?