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Judi Lynn

(160,542 posts)
Fri Oct 26, 2018, 12:58 AM Oct 2018

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



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Hassin Bin Sober

(26,330 posts)
2. Why do unarmed black people always reach for their waistband?
Fri Oct 26, 2018, 06:12 AM
Oct 2018

I mean, if there was no gun there they had to be reaching for SOMETHING.




What exactly is reaching for your waistband anyway? I don’t think I’ve ever reached for my waistband my entire life.

BumRushDaShow

(129,052 posts)
3. It's the message that gets implanted in racist cops' brains
Fri Oct 26, 2018, 06:33 AM
Oct 2018

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!

BumRushDaShow

(129,052 posts)
7. Sometimes the local tv stations will stream it
Fri Oct 26, 2018, 11:10 AM
Oct 2018

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)
8. Thank you. I'm assuming it'll show up on YouTube sooner or later
Fri Oct 26, 2018, 11:19 AM
Oct 2018

I still haven’t gotten around to watching the McDonald shooting case in Chicago. I managed to see a few snippets of the cops testimony. I’m 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

3Hotdogs

(12,382 posts)
4. That's nothing. If they aren't reaching for their waistband,
Fri Oct 26, 2018, 07:44 AM
Oct 2018

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?

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