Deaths and Injuries in Police Custody

[Andrea]

Man Arrested After Refusing to Leave Hospital Dies Hours Later in Jail

https://themighty.com/2018/01/marconia-kessee-dies-police-custody-discharged-norman-regional-hospital-oklahoma/

An Oklahoma man’s death has been called into question following the release of police bodycam footage last Tuesday. Marconia Kessee died in police custody after being discharged from Norman Regional Hospital on Jan. 16 in Norman, Oklahoma. He was arrested for trespassing after he was discharged from the hospital and refused to leave.

Kessee went to the emergency room for a headache, his uncle, Michael Washington, told Oklahoma’s News 4. “I wasn’t there, but I believe it in my heart that he refused to leave because he wasn’t treated and he felt that he needed more medication because his headache was still hurting him,” Washington said.

According to police body camera footage, the responding officers told Kessee he could seek shelter at the local Salvation Army. Kessee laid on the ground near the hospital entrance and was arrested.

“Here in about 15 seconds, I’m going to drag your [expletive] to the curb to get you off this property and then you can find your own way to the Salvation army. OK? Put your shoe on. I’m losing patience,” an officer says in the video. The footage later shows the officers dragging Kessee over to a police car.

While at Cleveland County Jail, police said Kessee tried to hurt himself, and was moved to a padded cell where he was checked on routinely. During one of these checks, Kessee was unresponsive and brought back to the same hospital, several hours after he was previously discharged.

Kessee’s cause of death has not been released. Both the hospital and police department are launching their own investigations into his death.

“Norman Regional Health System is saddened by this loss of life. We are internally reviewing this case,” a representative for the hospital told The Mighty.

An administrative review of the officers’ actions is also underway. Both officers have been placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation.

Washington told News 4 his nephew was diagnosed with ADHD and bipolar disorder as a child, and that his nephew should have been taken to a crisis center if he was “wigged out,” which is what the hospital security officer requested when calling 911 to have Kessee removed from the hospital.

“We believe that there was no actual mental evaluation, we believe that the doctors, hospitals, did not review or take the physical assessment of my nephew and that they are partly responsible, and they will be held accountable,” Washington told News 4.

[Andrea]

Family Calls on Police to Release Video in Fatal Shooting of Savannah Prom King

https://www.thedailybeast.com/family-calls-on-police-to-release-video-in-fatal-shooting-of-savannah-prom-king?via=twitter_page

Georgia police say Ricky Boyd was wielding a BB gun when officers shot and killed him at his grandmother’s house one January morning.

But Boyd’s family claims he was unarmed—and that authorities showed them body-camera footage that proves Boyd’s hands were raised. Video of the fatal encounter, which involved a group of Savannah officers, has not been released.

The 20-year-old restaurant worker died Jan. 23, not long after he was gunned down on the concrete porch of his home in front of his grandmother and four siblings. Police say Boyd was a suspect in a local murder that occurred two days before.

Jameillah Smiley, Boyd’s mother, says her son was innocent and is demanding authorities release the body-cam footage and clear his name.

“I haven’t been out here marching, protesting. I’m not for all of that right now. I just want answers to what happened to Ricky Boyd III,” Smiley told The Daily Beast.

“That’s my son. He was my everything,” she said through tears.

Will Claiborne, an attorney for Smiley, said Savannah police have refused to release video or copies of the incident report.

So Claiborne and Smiley have published a YouTube video of their own demanding Savannah’s police chief Mark Revenew release the body-camera footage and identify the other officers involved in Boyd’s death.

Smiley’s fight for justice comes days after White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders called police-involved shootings of African-American citizens “a local matter” that “should be left up to the local authorities,” not the feds.

And after Louisiana’s attorney general declined to charge officers for shooting Alton Sterling—a 37-year-old father of five—six times at point-blank range in July 2016. The officer who killed Sterling called him a “stupid motherfucker” after spraying him with bullets, according to video released last week.

“What are we supposed to do when local officials lie?” Claiborne asked of the White House’s apparent position on police-involved shootings of minority suspects. “Explain to me how that is supposed to work.”

Claiborne said Boyd was “wrongfully implicated” in the murder of 24-year-old Balil Whitfield, who was found shot to death in his vehicle. (A spokeswoman for the Savannah-Chatham Metropolitan Police Department said the Whitfield investigation remains open—a fact which Claiborne claims shows cops had the wrong guy.)

“He has no prior criminal record. He was a good kid. We want his name cleared. He did not commit that homicide. He did not shoot a police officer. He did not come out the door with the gun,” Claiborne told The Daily Beast.

“If the suspect is dead, why in the world is this still an open investigation?” the attorney said, adding that Whitfield’s killer “is still walking free.”

Savannah police and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) declined to comment for this story. Bill Bodrey, a special agent with GBI, said the probe into Boyd’s death was referred to the district attorney’s office.

A spokeswoman for Chatham County DA Meg Heap said their office received the case file this week and it’s under review.

According to a GBI press release, a group of officers belonging to Savannah PD and the U.S. Marshals Southeast Regional Fugitive Task Force, arrived at the Marian Circle home around 6:15 a.m. to arrest Boyd for Whitfield’s slaying.

Several of Boyd’s relatives exited the front door. When Boyd came out, he confronted cops “with what appeared to be a firearm,” GBI stated. “However, it was later determined to be a CO2 powered BB air gun.”

Officers fired at Boyd after he raised the BB gun in their direction, GBI claims. Boyd died soon after he was transported to the hospital.

Sgt. Sean Wilson of the Savannah-Chatham police department was shot during the incident and released. (Claiborne says this was friendly fire, not from Boyd. In January, Bodrey told the Associated Press that Wilson “did suffer gunshot wounds as well as other possible injuries.” But when asked if Wilson was shot by fellow officers, Bodrey said, “It’s still being investigated.”)

Authorities haven’t released an autopsy report, nor a cause of death or information on where and how many times Boyd was shot. Still, no one disputes Boyd was killed by law enforcement, Claiborne said.

Boyd had multiple gunshot wounds to his body, including one to his left hand, Smiley told The Daily Beast.

Meanwhile, Claiborne says cops are trying to pin a BB gun on Boyd, who didn’t own one. Authorities haven’t disclosed where the BB gun was found, he said.

The attorney’s YouTube video shows a photo taken by a neighbor, who spotted the BB gun underneath a pine tree near his house. This photo suggests the BB gun was 43 feet away from Boyd’s body, Claiborne said.

“If law enforcement’s version of this story is to be believed, he committed the [Whitfield] homicide with an actual gun, not a BB gun. Then less than two days later, they go to arrest him and he’s in the house. He does not have a firearm, but instead decides to calmly walk out the door holding a BB gun … it just doesn’t make any sense,” Claiborne said.

“And then after they shoot him, he throws the gun 43 feet. If he’s trying to commit suicide by cop, why would he throw the gun 43 feet away from himself?”

Police claim there’s only one body-cam video, despite at least 10 officers participating in the deadly arrest, Claiborne said.

Smiley met with a GBI agent, who showed her a copy of the body camera video, at the courthouse on March 31.

One detective allegedly told Smiley, “Ma’am, your son wanted to die,” and that Boyd emerged from the house hoisting a gun.

Smiley then told the officer, “Okay, I want to see this tape.”

She watched the footage on a laptop and was told to pay close attention, because the encounter escalated pretty quickly.

“I see Ricky appear,” Smiley recalls of the video. “He was wiping his eye and walked out the door.” Boyd was facing the officers and had his arms outstretched, she said. His palms were up and at waist level.

Someone said something to Boyd that made him turn toward a neighbor’s house, Smiley says. “Before you notice anything, you see my son’s hands coming together and then he falls down. Immediately. It wasn’t a second before he made that turn and they was shooting my child,” Smiley said.

Smiley said she saw no firearm or BB gun in the video clip.

“They were trying to tell me my son wanted to die,” Smiley said of one detective, who allegedly brought a BB gun to prove the shooting was justified.

“They didn’t have to kill my son. They did not even give him a chance at all,” Smiley said.

Smiley said Boyd was her first child, whom she had when she was 15 years old. “I worked ever since I was 16. Fifteen going on 16,” Smiley said, choking up. “I made sure Ricky had everything he needed. Anything he needed.”

She described Boyd as an old soul and hard worker, who loved basketball and cowboy movies. He worked at the Crab Shack, a restaurant on Tybee Island.

Before he graduated from Savannah High School in May 2016, Boyd was voted Prom King, as well as “best dressed.”

The mother said she recently received certification from a local college to become an office specialist. But she doesn’t know if she’ll attend graduation next month, now that her oldest son won’t be there to see her.

“I gotta push myself, because I wanted my son to be there, to let him know he could do it, too,” Smiley said.

[Andrea]

Trooper tases teen on ATV. Police video reveals what happens next.

https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/detroit/2018/04/13/police-video-michigan-state-police-taser/499525002/

As 15-year-old Damon Grimes lay dying in the middle of Rossini Drive last August, Michigan State Police Trooper Mark Bessner crouched over his body.

“He’s got a pulse, and he’s breathing. He’s unconscious,” Bessner said into his police radio, adding later, “He slowed down. We tased him, and he crashed out.”

Grimes had been driving about 35 mph on an ATV when Bessner — a passenger in a moving patrol car — fired his stun gun at the teen during a chase on Detroit’s east side.

Over 25 hours of video and audio detail an ATV crash in Detroit involving 15-year-old Damon Grimes, who was allegedly tased by Michigan State Police trooper Mark Bessner during a chase in August of 2017.

Grimes slammed into the back of a parked truck and flew off his ATV. The impact of the crash ripped gashes into his forehead, both cheeks and upper lip and dislocated his skull. Doctors pronounced him dead on arrival at St. John Hospital.

Bessner, who resigned from his job amid a criminal investigation, has been charged with murder.

To better understand what happened the evening of Aug. 26, the Free Press used the Michigan Freedom of Information Act to request extensive records related to the crash. It received almost 11 hours of footage captured by cameras mounted in patrol cars, on nearby businesses and worn by Detroit Police officers, who also responded to the incident.

The Free Press also obtained almost 16 hours of audio recordings from police radios and phones as well as more than 600 pages of documents and more than 500 photos. Michigan State Police took six months to provide those records, which were heavily redacted. For example, State Police withheld all footage captured from the camera in Bessner's squad car, and also blurred the video of Grimes.

Still, the video and audio files that were turned over by MSP show elements of the chase and its aftermath from dozens of angles and perspectives with candid, real-time comments provided by police officers seeing the events unfold in front of them.

Communities across the nation are equipping officers with body cameras to document police contacts with the public. Detroit Police began wearing them in 2016 but little footage from their cameras has become public — until now.

The chase is on

"Give us priority," Bessner is heard saying into a police radio. "Chasing an ATV east on Rossini from Reno. It's a red quad. Black male, black shirt."

A security camera mounted on the Embassy Coney Island restaurant at the corner of Gratiot and Rossini was pointed at the parking lot, but in the background, it showed a view of Rossini where Grimes' ATV appears followed closely by a State Police patrol car. Just as the ATV exits the camera frame, it bounces back into the frame after striking a parked Ford F-150 pickup. The security camera footage didn't include sound, but police cameras did.

“He flipped,” Detroit Police Officer J. Williams said before quickly reporting the accident over his radio.

Williams and his partner, Officer Cameron Boersma, pulled up about 20 seconds after the crash. As they stepped out of their police cruiser, Bessner was bent over Grimes, who lay in the middle of the street beside the pickup, his overturned ATV nearby.

Michigan State Police were patrolling in area that day as part of the Secure Cities Partnership, an initiative launched in 2012 to bring additional police resources to high-crime areas of Detroit, Flint, Saginaw and Pontiac.

The videos the Free Press obtained show a view from another security camera, and appear to depict the overhead emergency lights on Bessner’s squad car activating 24 seconds after the crash. State Police policy requires troopers to turn on their emergency lights, sirens and in-car video recording systems during a pursuit.

Asked this week, a spokeswoman for the Wayne County Prosecutor's Office wouldn't comment on whether the lights were on during the chase, saying she couldn't discuss evidence before trial.

Around the time of the crash, State Police issued two news releases saying the lights had been on during the chase. Asked again this week, First Lt. Mike Shaw, a department spokesman, declined to comment because the criminal case is pending.

He said the cameras typically are activated in one of several ways. They begin recording automatically when a trooper turns on the emergency lights. Troopers also can activate them by pushing a button on the dash or by turning on a microphone worn on the trooper's belt.

“Have EMS step it up,” a person at the scene urged soon after the first two Detroit police officers arrived. As police waited for the ambulance, Grimes’ condition quickly worsened.

“I don’t know if he’s got a pulse anymore,” a voice is heard over the radio.

As another Detroit patrol car arrived, officers radioed for another update on the ambulance, noting Grimes' pulse was weakening.

Officers disgusted

“His pulse is weakening because he was on that fuckin' thing, and you chased his ass,” Detroit Police officer Kimberly Buckner muttered to herself as she stepped out of her vehicle, her body camera recording every step and word.

As she walked toward Grimes, an unidentified Detroit police officer reached out his hand to cover the lens of Buckner's body camera quietly saying: "They fuckin' tased his ass while he was cruisin'."

The body camera views come only from Detroit Police. State Police don't have them.

State Police reported over the radio that “he’s fading fast.” The ambulance arrived about seven minutes after the crash — about a minute faster than the city’s average response time for life-threatening calls.

By then, a crowd had gathered in the neighborhood watching as ambulance crews loaded Grimes onto a stretcher. Witnesses recorded the scene on cell phones, some questioning the pace at which first responders were moving.

“He is dead because if he wasn’t they’d be rushing,” a woman said on a witness recording obtained by the Free Press.

'A bad-ass 15'

Officer Emily Stephenson's body cam shows her approaching a fellow Detroit Police officer, whose name is not clear from the video. She asks whether police should escort the ambulance to the hospital.

“Hell no,” he responded, noting the ambulance has lights and sirens, and escorts are reserved for police. “If an officer was shot, we’ll do that.”

Shortly after the ambulance pulled away, Buckner approached that same officer and said Grimes' mother needed to be at the hospital.

“That’s a grown-ass man,” he said of Grimes, a 6-foot-1, 234-pound teenager.

“No, he’s 15,” she replied. “He’s 15 years old.”

“He’s a bad-ass 15,” the male officer said, later adding: "No sympathy at all for bullshit. Motherfucker wanna be grown, ya act grown, you gotta fuckin' deal with it.”

Detroit Police Chief James Craig said Wednesday that supervisors weren't aware of the officer's comments until the Free Press asked about them.

After reviewing the body camera video himself, Craig ordered an internal investigation and pulled the 22-year veteran from his position of neighborhood resource officer. He has been reassigned to a non-patrol duty.

Craig called the remarks insensitive and said he expects better of officers at a critical scene.

"It's troubling, especially when you talk about a young man who lost his life," Craig said.

Without defending the comments, Craig said the officer who made them may mistakenly have thought Grimes' injuries were not life-threatening.

Craig declined to name the officer, citing the investigation. The Free Press identified him from a photograph as Neighborhood Police Officer Aubrey Wade. When reached by telephone Wednesday, the officer declined comment, saying he was speaking to his lawyer at the time.

Other Detroit Police officers at the scene appeared more sensitive, trying to get Grimes' mother to the hospital to see her son. One appeared to express disgust with the use of a stun gun in that situation.

“They tased his ass while he was driving,” Buckner whispered to Stephenson, “causing him to flip and crash.”

Unanswered questions

Many details surrounding the chase remain unclear because Michigan State Police heavily redacted the written reports in addition to the videos and audios.

In a typed report Berger filed after the incident, he said that he and Bessner were on Reno near Fairmount when they observed Grimes popping a "wheelie" on his ATV.

“The 4-wheeler ATV continued to approach our fully marked MSP patrol vehicle at a high rate of speed southbound Reno St. as I was driving northbound Reno St.,” Berger wrote.

State Police redacted what Berger said happened after that. Later, Berger's report said EMS loaded Grimes onto a backboard then a cot. An autopsy concluded Grimes died of blunt force head trauma.

“After EMS arrived on scene and transported the ATV driver, Tpr. Bessner and I followed critical incident protocol and separated ourselves from other troopers and sergeants,” wrote Berger, who was later suspended.

Witness reports

Residents in the neighborhood recorded the aftermath on cell phone video, voicing their emotions.

“They don’t give a damn,” a man said while police investigated after sundown. “They’re gonna still go home to their wife and kids and still get paid.”

People in the area said police can't be trusted.

“They’re supposed to protect and serve,” a man’s voice is recorded saying.

One witness also reporting seeing a piece of a police Taser, and quickly concluded that it was used on Grimes. Witnesses spotted a pair of earbuds, which a police photo shows lying in a pool of blood.

Police and prosecutors would not say whether Grimes was wearing the earbuds when he crashed.

That evening, as a Detroit firefighter hosed blood from the street, a woman, who identified herself as Grimes' cousin, said they are cleaning up the blood.

“Unbelievable,” she said in the video. “Fifteen years old — killed by the State Police. Unbelievable.

Murder charge, lawsuit

Within hours of the crash, Detroit Police brass and Grimes' family demanded answers about the teen's death.

“You guys had a pursuit today ... and now our bosses want some information,” a Detroit police sergeant said to a State Police dispatcher in a recorded conversation.

Detroit Police policy prohibits high-speed chases for traffic offenses and misdemeanors but State Police allowed them at the time. After the crash, State Police announced a policy review and suspended chases in Detroit involving traffic or misdemeanor violations. That policy was later adopted statewide.

State Police halted their Detroit patrols in September after Grimes’ death and they have not resumed.

Craig told the Free Press that he and State Police Col. Kriste Etue decided together that, “given the seriousness of this offense, that the Secure Cities aspect, meaning troopers being deployed in the 9th Precinct, would be terminated for now."

When Grimes' family sought answers about his death, State Police told them the case was still being investigated, and that reports are available under the Freedom of Information Act, according to documents obtained by the Free Press.

State Police took six months to provide the records the Free Press requested under FOIA.

By then, Southfield attorney Geoffrey Fieger had filed an excessive force lawsuit on behalf of Grimes' family. Fieger told the Free Press on Wednesday that he has seen unredacted video that shows the Taser incident.

"It's horrible," Fieger said. "It shows him shooting ... using him for target practice."

Fieger declined to show the unredacted video to the Free Press. Last month, a judge issued an order that prohibits the parties from sharing material from MSP with anyone other than those involved in the lawsuit.

"There is no defense to this case," Fieger said. "The defense is 'How much do we have to pay?' ”

Fieger also criticized Detroit Police for not doing more to try to stop the chase that ended Grimes' life.

"I think they were watching it," Fieger said, adding that the disparaging comments from the Detroit police officer were insensitive and uncaring.

A federal lawsuit filed by Grimes' family is proceeding with a trial expected to begin in summer 2019.

In December, Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy announced second-degree murder and involuntary manslaughter charges against Bessner.

“Trooper Bessner unnecessarily deployed his Taser at Mr. Grimes without legal justification or excuse as Mr. Grimes was traveling at least 35 to 40 miles per hour,” Worthy said when she announced the charges Dec. 20.

Worthy declined to charge Berger and Sgt. Jacob Liss, a supervisor. Both those men remain suspended amid an internal investigation, Shaw said.

Bessner, a 44-year-old husband, father and lawyer, is free on bond and wearing a tether to track his movements. His criminal trial is scheduled to start July 9 in Wayne County Circuit Court.

Bessner's attorney, Richard Convertino, agreed to an interview, but then didn't respond to requests to schedule it.

Convertino previously called Grimes' death tragic, noting the teen drove the ATV “recklessly and dangerously” and “actively resisted and evaded arrest.”

“During the pursuit, Trooper Bessner was forced to make a split-second decision under circumstances on the scene and at the moment which was tense, uncertain and rapidly evolving,” Convertino told the Free Press in the e-mail, shortly after the crash.

Bessner has a history of using excessive force and has been reprimanded before for using his Taser inappropriately, including using the device on handcuffed suspects. The investigation into Bessner’s conduct shows that over a four-year span ending in 2017, he had 40 use of force incidents, 17 pursuits and five car accidents.

Shaw said use of force reports cover a broad range of contact between troopers and suspects, including things like wrestling someone to the ground, using pepper spray or a Taser, all the way up to using deadly force. The number of such contacts may vary based on a trooper's assignment, Shaw said.

"There's no way to look at that and say this is high, this is low," he said.
Neighbors outraged

Neighbors were outraged at the death of Grimes, who was about to begin ninth grade at Michigan Collegiate in Warren. School officials described him as a considerate student who excelled in science and math.

Four days after the crash, Berger said he returned to the area looking for the black Ford F-150 Grimes' barreled into and saw more than 100 people at the corner of Gratiot and Rossini — some on ATVs, golf carts and dirt bikes. News crews also were present.

Berger never got out of his patrol car.

“The large crowd of people were not pleased with our presence and began to taunt us by yelling and screaming at us,” his report said. “The large crowd displayed multiple hand gestures (middle fingers) with explicit language.”

MSP detectives interviewed residents as part of their investigation and can be heard on one audio recording, discussing what a local woman said about the crash.

“She’s like, 'All these people in here are wanting to talk about protesting the police. He drives this neighborhood recklessly all the time. Why didn’t he just stop?’ ” an investigator recalled her saying.

The woman's voice was redacted from the audio recording provided to the Free Press.

The detectives go on to say two people made bad decisions.

“It could have been handled differently on both sides as far as I’m concerned,” one of the men said. “Had I been out here chasing him … I guarantee I would have done it differently. Guaranteed, I would have done it differently.”

[Kätzchen]

Originally Posted by Andrea

Trooper tases teen on ATV. Police video reveals what happens next.

https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/detroit/2018/04/13/police-video-michigan-state-police-taser/499525002/

As 15-year-old Damon Grimes lay dying in the middle of Rossini Drive last August, Michigan State Police Trooper Mark Bessner crouched over his body.

“He’s got a pulse, and he’s breathing. He’s unconscious,” Bessner said into his police radio, adding later, “He slowed down. We tased him, and he crashed out.”

Grimes had been driving about 35 mph on an ATV when Bessner — a passenger in a moving patrol car — fired his stun gun at the teen during a chase on Detroit’s east side.

Over 25 hours of video and audio detail an ATV crash in Detroit involving 15-year-old Damon Grimes, who was allegedly tased by Michigan State Police trooper Mark Bessner during a chase in August of 2017.

Grimes slammed into the back of a parked truck and flew off his ATV. The impact of the crash ripped gashes into his forehead, both cheeks and upper lip and dislocated his skull. Doctors pronounced him dead on arrival at St. John Hospital.

Bessner, who resigned from his job amid a criminal investigation, has been charged with murder.

To better understand what happened the evening of Aug. 26, the Free Press used the Michigan Freedom of Information Act to request extensive records related to the crash. It received almost 11 hours of footage captured by cameras mounted in patrol cars, on nearby businesses and worn by Detroit Police officers, who also responded to the incident.

The Free Press also obtained almost 16 hours of audio recordings from police radios and phones as well as more than 600 pages of documents and more than 500 photos. Michigan State Police took six months to provide those records, which were heavily redacted. For example, State Police withheld all footage captured from the camera in Bessner's squad car, and also blurred the video of Grimes.

Still, the video and audio files that were turned over by MSP show elements of the chase and its aftermath from dozens of angles and perspectives with candid, real-time comments provided by police officers seeing the events unfold in front of them.

Communities across the nation are equipping officers with body cameras to document police contacts with the public. Detroit Police began wearing them in 2016 but little footage from their cameras has become public — until now.

The chase is on

"Give us priority," Bessner is heard saying into a police radio. "Chasing an ATV east on Rossini from Reno. It's a red quad. Black male, black shirt."

A security camera mounted on the Embassy Coney Island restaurant at the corner of Gratiot and Rossini was pointed at the parking lot, but in the background, it showed a view of Rossini where Grimes' ATV appears followed closely by a State Police patrol car. Just as the ATV exits the camera frame, it bounces back into the frame after striking a parked Ford F-150 pickup. The security camera footage didn't include sound, but police cameras did.

“He flipped,” Detroit Police Officer J. Williams said before quickly reporting the accident over his radio.

Williams and his partner, Officer Cameron Boersma, pulled up about 20 seconds after the crash. As they stepped out of their police cruiser, Bessner was bent over Grimes, who lay in the middle of the street beside the pickup, his overturned ATV nearby.

Michigan State Police were patrolling in area that day as part of the Secure Cities Partnership, an initiative launched in 2012 to bring additional police resources to high-crime areas of Detroit, Flint, Saginaw and Pontiac.

The videos the Free Press obtained show a view from another security camera, and appear to depict the overhead emergency lights on Bessner’s squad car activating 24 seconds after the crash. State Police policy requires troopers to turn on their emergency lights, sirens and in-car video recording systems during a pursuit.

Asked this week, a spokeswoman for the Wayne County Prosecutor's Office wouldn't comment on whether the lights were on during the chase, saying she couldn't discuss evidence before trial.

Around the time of the crash, State Police issued two news releases saying the lights had been on during the chase. Asked again this week, First Lt. Mike Shaw, a department spokesman, declined to comment because the criminal case is pending.

He said the cameras typically are activated in one of several ways. They begin recording automatically when a trooper turns on the emergency lights. Troopers also can activate them by pushing a button on the dash or by turning on a microphone worn on the trooper's belt.

“Have EMS step it up,” a person at the scene urged soon after the first two Detroit police officers arrived. As police waited for the ambulance, Grimes’ condition quickly worsened.

“I don’t know if he’s got a pulse anymore,” a voice is heard over the radio.

As another Detroit patrol car arrived, officers radioed for another update on the ambulance, noting Grimes' pulse was weakening.

Officers disgusted

“His pulse is weakening because he was on that fuckin' thing, and you chased his ass,” Detroit Police officer Kimberly Buckner muttered to herself as she stepped out of her vehicle, her body camera recording every step and word.

As she walked toward Grimes, an unidentified Detroit police officer reached out his hand to cover the lens of Buckner's body camera quietly saying: "They fuckin' tased his ass while he was cruisin'."

The body camera views come only from Detroit Police. State Police don't have them.

State Police reported over the radio that “he’s fading fast.” The ambulance arrived about seven minutes after the crash — about a minute faster than the city’s average response time for life-threatening calls.

By then, a crowd had gathered in the neighborhood watching as ambulance crews loaded Grimes onto a stretcher. Witnesses recorded the scene on cell phones, some questioning the pace at which first responders were moving.

“He is dead because if he wasn’t they’d be rushing,” a woman said on a witness recording obtained by the Free Press.

'A bad-ass 15'

Officer Emily Stephenson's body cam shows her approaching a fellow Detroit Police officer, whose name is not clear from the video. She asks whether police should escort the ambulance to the hospital.

“Hell no,” he responded, noting the ambulance has lights and sirens, and escorts are reserved for police. “If an officer was shot, we’ll do that.”

Shortly after the ambulance pulled away, Buckner approached that same officer and said Grimes' mother needed to be at the hospital.

“That’s a grown-ass man,” he said of Grimes, a 6-foot-1, 234-pound teenager.

“No, he’s 15,” she replied. “He’s 15 years old.”

“He’s a bad-ass 15,” the male officer said, later adding: "No sympathy at all for bullshit. Motherfucker wanna be grown, ya act grown, you gotta fuckin' deal with it.”

Detroit Police Chief James Craig said Wednesday that supervisors weren't aware of the officer's comments until the Free Press asked about them.

After reviewing the body camera video himself, Craig ordered an internal investigation and pulled the 22-year veteran from his position of neighborhood resource officer. He has been reassigned to a non-patrol duty.

Craig called the remarks insensitive and said he expects better of officers at a critical scene.

"It's troubling, especially when you talk about a young man who lost his life," Craig said.

Without defending the comments, Craig said the officer who made them may mistakenly have thought Grimes' injuries were not life-threatening.

Craig declined to name the officer, citing the investigation. The Free Press identified him from a photograph as Neighborhood Police Officer Aubrey Wade. When reached by telephone Wednesday, the officer declined comment, saying he was speaking to his lawyer at the time.

Other Detroit Police officers at the scene appeared more sensitive, trying to get Grimes' mother to the hospital to see her son. One appeared to express disgust with the use of a stun gun in that situation.

“They tased his ass while he was driving,” Buckner whispered to Stephenson, “causing him to flip and crash.”

Unanswered questions

Many details surrounding the chase remain unclear because Michigan State Police heavily redacted the written reports in addition to the videos and audios.

In a typed report Berger filed after the incident, he said that he and Bessner were on Reno near Fairmount when they observed Grimes popping a "wheelie" on his ATV.

“The 4-wheeler ATV continued to approach our fully marked MSP patrol vehicle at a high rate of speed southbound Reno St. as I was driving northbound Reno St.,” Berger wrote.

State Police redacted what Berger said happened after that. Later, Berger's report said EMS loaded Grimes onto a backboard then a cot. An autopsy concluded Grimes died of blunt force head trauma.

“After EMS arrived on scene and transported the ATV driver, Tpr. Bessner and I followed critical incident protocol and separated ourselves from other troopers and sergeants,” wrote Berger, who was later suspended.

Witness reports

Residents in the neighborhood recorded the aftermath on cell phone video, voicing their emotions.

“They don’t give a damn,” a man said while police investigated after sundown. “They’re gonna still go home to their wife and kids and still get paid.”

People in the area said police can't be trusted.

“They’re supposed to protect and serve,” a man’s voice is recorded saying.

One witness also reporting seeing a piece of a police Taser, and quickly concluded that it was used on Grimes. Witnesses spotted a pair of earbuds, which a police photo shows lying in a pool of blood.

Police and prosecutors would not say whether Grimes was wearing the earbuds when he crashed.

That evening, as a Detroit firefighter hosed blood from the street, a woman, who identified herself as Grimes' cousin, said they are cleaning up the blood.

“Unbelievable,” she said in the video. “Fifteen years old — killed by the State Police. Unbelievable.

Murder charge, lawsuit

Within hours of the crash, Detroit Police brass and Grimes' family demanded answers about the teen's death.

“You guys had a pursuit today ... and now our bosses want some information,” a Detroit police sergeant said to a State Police dispatcher in a recorded conversation.

Detroit Police policy prohibits high-speed chases for traffic offenses and misdemeanors but State Police allowed them at the time. After the crash, State Police announced a policy review and suspended chases in Detroit involving traffic or misdemeanor violations. That policy was later adopted statewide.

State Police halted their Detroit patrols in September after Grimes’ death and they have not resumed.

Craig told the Free Press that he and State Police Col. Kriste Etue decided together that, “given the seriousness of this offense, that the Secure Cities aspect, meaning troopers being deployed in the 9th Precinct, would be terminated for now."

When Grimes' family sought answers about his death, State Police told them the case was still being investigated, and that reports are available under the Freedom of Information Act, according to documents obtained by the Free Press.

State Police took six months to provide the records the Free Press requested under FOIA.

By then, Southfield attorney Geoffrey Fieger had filed *snipped*

This is so horrible, so heartbreaking.

I can hardly talk about it, but both my son's are biracial African-American. The last time I saw my youngest son was when he came home for his birthday, over a year ago last February. I haven't seen him since he left to go find work. I've gotten a trail of medical emergency response bills from all over the US. The scariest notices came from Michigan, Maryland, Rhode Island, NYC (where he was falsely arrested), and the last notice I got came from Florida. I've been worried sick over my youngest sons safety. He's not well. And because by law he's considered an adult, no law enforcement agency will intervene.

That's all can reveal publicly in our community, but I'm brokenhearted over how both my son's have been treated and I know a lot of my youngest son issues center upon racial inequality, prejudicial treatment and no social supportive network to intervene on behalf of either of my boys.

JUST the other day, I was visiting with another rider on public transit, probably as old as my youngest son. He said was from Detroit looking for work. I showed him a picture of my youngest son and asked if by chance he'd seen him. He hadn't. I gave him some money to buy food, and gave him an litany of resources here to find work.

Thanks always,

Kätzchen

[Andrea]

Utah Man Shot and Killed While Complying with Police Commands to Show His Hands

http://atlantablackstar.com/2018/04/18/utah-cops-order-black-man-remove-hands-pocket-fatally-shoot/

Newly released body camera footage shows the moment Utah officers opened fire on an unarmed Black man as he removed his right hand from his pocket — which the officers instructed him to do.

West Valley City police officers pursued 20-year-old Elijah James Smith on April 8, as he matched the description of a suspect accused of stealing from a nearby cell phone store, The Salt Lake Tribune reported. Police said Smith hopped the fence to the backyard of a home in an effort to flee, but the homeowner asked him to leave. That’s when he barged into another neighborhood home and hid in its garage.

When officers arrived at the second home, a 13-year-old boy answered the door and told them a man had enterered into his house. Two other children, aged 9 and 10, were also inside the home at the time of the incident.

Police soon went down to the garage where they found Smith standing next to the car.

“Put your hands up now. Let me see your hands,” officers shout repeatedly from the stairs that led to the garage. Smith initially only raised his left hand but left his right hand tucked in his pocket, according to The Salt Lake Tribune. Another officer is heard ordering the man to take out his other hand, after which Smith raised his right elbow as he removed his right hand.

Three shots are fired, one of them striking Smith. At the same time one officer fired their weapon, another officer discharged their stun gun, which didn’t reach the suspect. Smith would later die from his injuries.

After the shooting, authorities said they found a “modified” screwdriver on the floor next to the Smith. Investigators think it was the object tucked in his right-side pocket when he was reluctant to remove his hand.

In a news conference, West Valley City Police Chief Colleen Jacobs said officers perceived Smith as a threat because he “rapidly” removed his hand from his pocket, despite the fact that they instructed him to do so. The officer who fired the shots has since been placed on administrative leave, according to the newspaper.

News of Smith’s killing sparked protests across the community.

” …Once again, it’s clear that police will see whatever they want to see in order to justify violence against people of color,” Dave Newlin, a local activist with Utahns Against Police Brutality, told The Salt Lake Tribune via email.

“I see a terrified young man with his hand in the air, desperately and clearly trying to put up his other hand exactly as police have demanded,” Newlin added. “I see someone who’s trapped after running for his life, who knows that at any moment, the violent racism of Utah’s police could take his life, as indeed it does.”

[Andrea]

‘I can’t breathe’: Former NFL player completely unconscious after being slammed to the ground by police

https://www.rawstory.com/2018/04/cant-breathe-former-nfl-player-completely-unconscious-slammed-ground-police/

While shouting “I’m not even doing nothing! I’m not even fighting back!” former NFL defensive back Desmond Marrow was grabbed by police and slammed to the ground.

According to 11Alive news, however, Marrow appeared to go limp after being pinned to the ground by three white Henry County Police officers.

Marrow was warned he was going to get tased, handcuffed first then pressed against a white truck. One officer lifted his right leg and Marrow was then thrown to the ground.

Off camera, a person can be heard saying that the incident is “unbelievable.”

An officer was seen leaning near Marrow’s head with his hands around the handcuffed man’s throat.

“I can’t breathe,” Marrow can be heard saying. The plea for help a haunting reminder of the chokehold from New York Police that killed Eric Garner.

Marrow then went completely limp.

In a Facebook post, Marrow explained that officers tried to say that he had a gun in his pocket, however, it was only a cell phone. He said that the police “knocked my teeth out, slammed me on my head and choked me out until I was unconscious. In addition I suffered a shoulder strain and a concussion.”

In a separate interview, Marrow revealed how terrifying the incident was.

“I was fully cooperating with the officers with ZERO resistance. I thought I was going to die. I was sure I was passing out or dying.”

No videos show what occurred that led to the incident. It is unclear if there is any body cam video.

[Andrea]

Death of black man during arrest in Louisiana ruled homicide

https://www.cnn.com/2018/05/14/us/jefferson-parish-sheriffs-office-suspect-death-homicide/index.html

The death of a 22-year-old African-American man shortly after a struggle with police last week has been ruled a homicide, authorities in Jefferson Parish, Louisiana said Monday.

Keeven Robinson, of Metairie, died last Thursday, following a police chase and an altercation with narcotics detectives from the Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office, located outside of New Orleans, according to authorities.

An initial autopsy found significant traumatic injuries to the soft tissue of Robinson's neck, said Jefferson Parish Coroner Dr. Gerry Cvitanovich, who cautioned that the results from the autopsy, which was conducted Saturday, are preliminary and more tests need to be conducted.

Cvitanovich said the findings are consistent with compressional asphyxia, which will likely be cause of death at the end of the process.

The four detectives involved in the incident are white, said Sheriff Joseph P. Lopinto, who declined to release their names at this point.

"I understand ... this investigation will be under a microscope, understand it fully," Lopinto told reporters.

Gaylor Spiller, president of the West Jefferson Parish NAACP branch, said Robinson's family is also seeking a second independent autopsy.

"I like the fact that Sheriff Lopinto stepped up to plate, and he's doing his part," Spiller said, according CNN affiliate WDSU. "He knows that the NAACP will be on his trail."

Robinson was being investigated by narcotics detectives early Thursday, Lt. Jason Rivarde, spokesman for Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office, told CNN.

Undercover detectives assigned to the case tracked Robinson down at a local gas station and tried to arrest him, according to Rivarde. But Robinson jumped back in his vehicle and led police on a chase after spotting them, Rivarde said.

The suspect rammed several police cars before crashing his vehicle, according to Rivarde.

Robinson took off on foot, jumping several fences before deputies caught him in a backyard of a nearby residential neighborhood, Rivarde said.

Rivarde says a struggle ensued with deputies who eventually handcuffed Robinson. Once handcuffed, detectives noticed Robinson was not breathing, Rivarde said. Detectives administered life saving techniques before Robinson was taken to a local hospital where he died, Rivarde said.

The agency is not equipped with body cameras or dash cameras, according to Rivarde.

"They were in a struggle," Lopinto said. "They used force." He added that the officers admitted to using force during the arrest.
But the sheriff said he's "not coming to the conclusion that this was a chokehold."

Lopinto said he contacted the Louisiana State Police on Saturday after he was told of the initial findings, and asked them to assist in the investigation.

The sheriff said he has "every faith" in his officers to do their job well.

"I know they have the expertise because this is what they do every day, but I also understand that an independent set of eyes is something that's appropriate in a case like this," he said.

The four detectives involved in the arrest were read their rights and have given statements, Lopinto said.

They are being reassigned to administrative duty pending the outcome of the investigation, the sheriff's said.

The FBI's Civil Rights Task force is also looking into the matter after he contacted them Saturday, the sheriff said.

The actions of the coroner's office were largely praised Monday by Robinson's family.

Hester Hilliard, an attorney for Robinson's family, thanked the coroner's office "for their professionalism and their transparency."

"Today is just as hard as Thursday for this family. They're grieving, and today they had to find out that Keeven lost his life at the hands of another," she said, according DSU. "And that's very, very hard for them."

"Now, it's time for us to move on to making funeral arrangements for a 22-year-old that should not have died," she said.

In an interview with CNN, Hilliard said she is hoping "to see the same justice for Keeven as with any other individual who has died at the hands of someone other than the police."

"We are hoping for a thorough investigation, an arrest and prosecution of those that caused his death unjustifiably," she said.