State Trooper Facing Murder Charges After Tasing A Teen Riding An ATV

from the height-of-unreasonableness dept

Wed, Apr 25th 2018 7:45pm — Tim Cushing

More than two dozen hours of recordings and 600 pages of documents obtained by the Detroit Free Press have uncovered disturbing details of the senseless killing of 15-year-old Damon Grimes by Michigan State Trooper Mark Bessner last fall.

Lots of killings are senseless, including many of those committed by officers authorized to use deadly force. But this one was especially senseless. Trooper Bessner decided against all policy and reason to fire his Taser at Grimes while both he and Grimes -- riding an ATV -- were traveling at 35 mph down a residential street. To add to the insanity of his act, Bessner was the passenger in the cruiser. Having initiated the pursuit, Bessner decided to end it by tasing Grimes. The result was the complete, gruesome destruction of a human being.

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.

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 is now facing murder charges. There's a good chance Grimes never knew he was being pursued. Earbuds were photographed at the scene of the fatal crash. No one involved in the pursuit has been willing to go on record as to whether they appeared to be in use at the time of death. Additionally, obtained footage shows the cruiser's emergency lights weren't activated until 24 seconds after the fatal crash.

What the Free Press has uncovered with this mountain of public records is staggering. Officers arriving at the scene expressed their disgust at Bessner's actions. One officer in particular registered her disbelief at what she was witnessing.

“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'."

Buckner showed more compassion than other officers, though. The unidentified officer she spoke with later stated police escorts for ambulances were reserved for injured officers not "bad-ass 15 [year olds]" who ran from the cops. The officer went on to state he had "no sympathy" for the dead teenager. Another unidentified officer is captured saying, "Don't run from the State Police. You'll get fucked up."

Unbelievably, Detroit PD officials had no idea this officer -- still unidentified -- had criticized the cooling corpse of a teen shot by an officer with a Taser while riding an ATV at 35 mph. Only at the prompting of the Free Press was an investigation instigated. The officer has been pulled from patrol duty while the investigation is underway.

The Michigan State Police have a lot to answer for, and reps aren't talking. A pending lawsuit is only part of the reason for its silence. The other part is likely due to its refusal to deal with a problem trooper until he was charged with murder.

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.

If the Michigan State Police could be bothered to police themselves, this may have been prevented. Bessner was -- at best -- a lawsuit waiting to happen. This isn't normal behavior, no matter how his lawyer spins it. It appears Bessner is going to lean hard on the Supreme Court's Graham decision, if his lawyer's statements are any indication.

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 email, shortly after the crash.

If the wording in that last paragraph seems familiar, it's because it directly quotes a Supreme Court justice.

The calculus of reasonableness must embody allowance for the fact that police officers are often forced to make split-second judgments - in circumstances that are tense, uncertain, and rapidly evolving - about the amount of force that is necessary in a particular situation.

That statement in defense of Bessner's reckless actions is a bit too much on the nose. There was no need for this to be a 'tense, uncertain, and rapidly evolving" situation. A teen was riding an ATV and the cops were in cruisers. If the teen posed a risk to others, the solution was not to fire a Taser from a moving vehicle at an unprotected body traveling at 35 mph. That's just a good way to seriously injure someone. In this case, the injuries were fatal and the trooper whose best call under pressure was to commit an act almost every cop would find unreasonable is now behind bars awaiting trial. I'll bet he wishes he'd responded a bit more reasonably.

The State Police gave him every chance to show them what kind of officer he could be. And in the end, he showed them he could be even worse than he was in the four years leading up to his murder rap.

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Filed Under: damon grimes, mark bessner, michigan, police brutality, teenager

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That One Guy (profile), 25 Apr 2018 @ 6:30pm

'This? This is why people don't trust you.'
The officer went on to state he had "no sympathy" for the dead teenager.

So, funny thing about sympathy, it's one of those 'reciprocal' things. If you make clear that you don't give a damn about the suffering and/or death of those around you, don't act surprised when no-one cares if you're the one in a tight spot.

A cop displaying this story of mindset should be fired immediately(psychiatric evaluation would probably be appropriate as well), as that's the sort of thing that can have serious negative impact on the relationship between the public and police. If the public in that area are aware that the police are willing to just shrug off a dead teen, the odds of them wanting anything to do with them are going to take a serious hit, and the odds of them being willing to help the police are going to be even lower.

Poisoning the relationship between yourself and those you interact with and might need the assistance of is an incredibly stupid move, and not something any boss, cop or otherwise, should let pass.

Another unidentified officer is captured saying, "Don't run from the State Police. You'll get fucked up."

Translation: "If you 'run' from the cops that is absolutely grounds to be murdered on the spot."

Because that is exactly the kind of person I want to see armed and given extensive cover by their employers and the legal system, someone who appears to have no problem with the idea that running away from a cop(which, given they only turned on the siren after the fatal shot was likely not the case here) is justification for on-the-spot execution.

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.

Given he was still employed at the time of the murder I would have to assume that the number of punishments handed out for such a 'colorful' history that were more than a slap on the wrist could be counted on a single hand, likely a closed one.
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Anonymous Anonymous Coward (profile), 25 Apr 2018 @ 7:54pm

Cleaning the house, first steps
This, along with other incidents, tells us why every law enforcement act of aggression should be investigated by a third party, non law enforcement related entity (secret in that its members are not named publicly) that has full powers to require subpoenas, search warrants, arrests, terminations, prosecution initiation, etc.. They should have the power for everything except claim them guilty of some criminality without a jury. The termination would not require criminality, just sufficient behavior of obstruction or obfuscation. There should be no way for any law enforcement entity to apply influence of any kind on these groups, and if there is, those who do would become complicit in conspiracy, and eligible for inclusion in the proceedings of said groups.

The good cops cannot clean up the mess. The bad cops want the mess. The prosecutors office is compromised, The legislature is weak willed. Short of capital termination of all law enforcement personnel (not a recommendation or even a suggestion), what's left?
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Stephen T. Stone (profile), 25 Apr 2018 @ 7:57pm

Re: 'This? This is why people don't trust you.'

A cop displaying this story of mindset should be fired immediately (psychiatric evaluation would probably be appropriate as well), as that's the sort of thing that can have serious negative impact on the relationship between the public and police.

Unfortunately, this would only work if the police gave a damn about that relationship—or about the people they hire being anything more than a tool of violence.
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Jay, 25 Apr 2018 @ 8:14pm

Calling it now...
He’s getting off. He’ll be cleared of all charges. Maybe ona technicality. Maybe some creative lawyering. Maybe by saying he felt he was in danger or defending himself, or the public, or some crap. Maybe some other bullshit. But this officer is getting off. That’s my bet.
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Anonymous Coward, 25 Apr 2018 @ 8:20pm

out_of_the_blue's heroes, ladies and gentlemen!
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Anonymous Coward, 25 Apr 2018 @ 8:32pm

Police routinely shoot tasers at people riding bicycles and motorcycles, as well as running them off the road.

Statistically, it would seem this cop's chance of being convicted is extremely slim.
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Ryunosuke (profile), 25 Apr 2018 @ 8:44pm

sounds like there NEEDS to be a very public, open casket funeral to enforce Police Reform.
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Anonymous Coward, 25 Apr 2018 @ 8:50pm

Re: 'This? This is why people don't trust you.'
Interacting with the public in a positive way is 90% of the job of a police officer. His bad example will undo millions of hours of positive interactions with officers around the state. Any enforcement agency that doesn't understand this doesn't deserve to exist.
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Anonymous Coward, 25 Apr 2018 @ 8:52pm

Re: Cleaning the house, first steps
Who watches the watchers?
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Madd the Sane (profile), 25 Apr 2018 @ 9:10pm

Re: Calling it now...
He resigned. He's still on the hook after his resignation.
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ECA (profile), 25 Apr 2018 @ 9:18pm

AS A DRIVER...
Arnt you liable for the actions of those in YOUR VEHICLE??

Some idiot in my car throws a Bottle out the window..

WHERE'S THE DRIVER??
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Anonymous Coward, 25 Apr 2018 @ 9:20pm

Re:
For the cop you mean?
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Anonymous Coward, 25 Apr 2018 @ 11:22pm

During the pursuit, Trooper Bessner was forced to make a split-second decision

From what I can tell, this statement from his attorney is a lie. Nobody was pointing a gun at his head. There was no apparent reason why he couldn't have taken a second to assess the situation. (And a second is all it takes for it to not be "split-second".)

Bessner was not "forced" to make a split-second decision. It's possible he didn't think about his actions for a full second, but that just shows incompetency, and doesn't justify the killing.
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Anonymous Coward, 26 Apr 2018 @ 1:29am

Re:
But you see, he mistook the all terrain vehicle for a tank! I mean, if cops can justifiably call a video game remote or a mobile phone a gun, why can't they think all vehicles are tanks... even if they're going away from the cop in question? /sarc
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David, 26 Apr 2018 @ 1:34am

Re: Re:
When was the last time you tased a tank?
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justok (profile), 26 Apr 2018 @ 2:42am

Re: Re: Cleaning the house, first steps
Film at 11.
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Narcissus (profile), 26 Apr 2018 @ 3:56am

Police state
It's incidents like this that give the impression that the US is becoming a police state.

Case in point, the recent attack in Toronto where the attacker/terrorist was apprehended alive. We were looking at the footage of the guy screaming at the cop "I have a gun!" with the policeman approaching him with gun drawn. My girlfriend remarked "Holy shit, if this was in the US, this guy would've been dead 5 times over!

So we've reached the point that we expect the police in the US to go in full Dirty Harry mode (Death Wish mode?) as soon as possible. They can't even spell de-escalation anymore.

To protect and serve?
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Anonymous Coward, 26 Apr 2018 @ 4:06am

Re: Police state
[here is a link](https://boingboing.net/2018/04/24/lone-canadian-cop-takes-down-a.html) for those interested.

Points of note, when the suspect dropped his 'gun', the cop holstered his and drew his baton. Oh, and he did no beat up the suspect when he got him on the ground.
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Michael J Milligan, 26 Apr 2018 @ 4:17am

I agree but have another opinion
To be part of a "Society" you have to act within the boundaries of our laws and acceptable behavior. The officer has obviously shown that going to far is something he was willing to do. I'm not arguing for that guy at all. But I do have to bring up a fact everyone seems to be ignoring. The kid WAS running from the police. you have to put at least half of the blame on him. None of this would have happened if he wasn't running. the article hints that the kid may not have known he was being "Pursued" because he had earbuds in but if an officer can shoot a taser at you in a moving car at 35 miles an hour it has to be close. He knew.

I did stupid shit when I was a kid but when i got caught, I owned up to it.

The kid didn't need to die and the cop shouldn't have tased the kid on a moving vehicle but the kid put himself in harms way running from the cops.
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Anonymous Coward, 26 Apr 2018 @ 4:32am

Re: I agree but have another opinion
Did you miss the little fact that the police signaled the pursuit by turning on the lights after the suspect had been tazed and crashed. Someone is not being pursued because some officer says so, but only after the police have made a demand for them to stop. and for vehicles that means using the cop cars flashing lights. Having a cop car alongside you, without those lights is not a signal that they want you to stop.
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Anonymous Coward, 26 Apr 2018 @ 4:39am

Re: Calling it now...
If he gets off I hope the public fucking murders him.

If cops got convicted for their crimes I'd have no reason to say such things, but we invented the formal justice system to give the public a sense of closure that doesn't involve heads on pikes and entrails being worn as neckties.

If that formal system fails us, we're still going to want to see something done about the bad people in our society. It's only natural, it's only human. If the cops want to protect this asshole from harm, they'd do better to jail him than to free him.
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Anonymous Coward, 26 Apr 2018 @ 4:45am

Re: Police state
White suspect. That's why he's still alive. If the driver were brown or black they'd have pumped him full of lead faster than you can say Sammy Yatim.

Toronto cops are notoriously racist. Oh sure, they pulled a DNC and elected a do-nothing black guy as their chief in an attempt to make us believe that the problem went away. Kernel Saunders is a puppet, that Irish bastard is the real power behind the throne of the TPS.
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Andre, 26 Apr 2018 @ 5:44am

This is what it looks like when your cops are not assholes
Const. Ken Lam in Toronto was also recently in a tense, uncertain and rapidly evolving, situation. He apprehended his suspect without firing a shot.
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Wendy Cockcroft, 26 Apr 2018 @ 6:01am

Now we know why Bessner did it
...the kid is black.
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Anonymous Coward, 26 Apr 2018 @ 6:04am

Anyone know the skin color of killer and victim? Just curious...
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Not an Electronic Rodent (profile), 26 Apr 2018 @ 6:43am

Re: Re: 'This? This is why people don't trust you.'

Unfortunately, this would only work if the police gave a damn about that relationship

Well, arguably they do sort of give a damn about it... Isn't the general antipathy of the public towards police usually the reason given for needing to get even more Rambo'd up with military-grade weapons and use them at the slightest provocation?
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me, 26 Apr 2018 @ 6:47am

Re: 'This? This is why people don't trust you.'
Go to prison, eat shit and die asshole.
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Ninja (profile), 26 Apr 2018 @ 7:10am

Re: 'This? This is why people don't trust you.'
Given he was still employed after showing very clear signs he couldn't do his job responsibly maybe his superiors should be jailed as well for this murder. Start from the top and the bottom will get better.
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OldMugwump (profile), 26 Apr 2018 @ 7:27am

Re: AS A DRIVER...
No. Nobody is liable for the actions of other people.

Just for their own actions.

Arguably the driver should have hit the brakes when he saw his idiot partner about to tase somebody at 35 MPH. He's liable for that failure.

But only for that.
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Anonymous Coward, 26 Apr 2018 @ 8:00am

Tasers kill more people than terrorism.
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Anonymous Coward, 26 Apr 2018 @ 8:30am

'I'll bet he wishes he'd responded a bit more reasonably.'

i'll bey he doesn't give a shit, just as he doesn't give a shit about the death he caused or the family he has destroyed! and why? because he's got the Police Force and the USA legal system on his side, thanks to the twats on the Supreme Court giving law enforcement a ticket to kill after their decision spoken of above!
his lawyer is as equally contemptible as Bessner and deserves nothing less than to be disbarred!
i sure hope the information that has been uncovered by the Free Press does a lot more than Bessner's lawyer and the Police put together. the lad didn't need to die and to make out that he did is disgraceful!!
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Anonymous Coward, 26 Apr 2018 @ 8:31am

Re: I agree but have another opinion

But I do have to bring up a fact everyone seems to be ignoring. The kid WAS running from the police.

No one is "ignoring" that because they actually red the article.

There's a good chance Grimes never knew he was being pursued. Earbuds were photographed at the scene of the fatal crash. No one involved in the pursuit has been willing to go on record as to whether they appeared to be in use at the time of death. Additionally, obtained footage shows the cruiser's emergency lights weren't activated until 24 seconds after the fatal crash.

If the lights weren't on, the kid was not running from the fucking police. If the lights weren't on, there was no pursuit, just a murderer shouting at kid with his music turned up too loud. That's generously assuming he actually shouted at the kid, or did anything to try and get the kid's attention.

Furthermore, even if the kid was running from the police, that changes little. Fleeing the police does not justify the use of deadly force, or things that might as well be deadly force such as tazing a kid while they're driving an ATV at 35 miles an hour.
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tin-foil-hat, 26 Apr 2018 @ 8:38am

Just face reality
The US is a police state. We can't fix it if we can't admit it. You either obey or not. Obedience is no guarantee that you won't be murdered by the cops.
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tin-foil-hat, 26 Apr 2018 @ 8:43am

Re: Police state
Because in Toronto it's very unlikely for someone to have a gun, let alone one small enough to conceal.
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Anonymous Coward, 26 Apr 2018 @ 8:55am

Re: Police state
We are NOT becoming, we are already a police state, by literal definition!
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Anonymous Coward, 26 Apr 2018 @ 8:58am

Re: Re: Police state
here is a video link and it certainly looked like he had a gun, and was pointing it towards the cop.
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OldFart, 26 Apr 2018 @ 9:15am

Re: Re: 'This? This is why people don't trust you.'
> His bad example will undo millions of hours of positive interactions with officers around the state. Any enforcement agency that doesn't understand this doesn't deserve to exist.

Or, as my old man used to say, "One awshit wipes out a thousand attaboys."
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Anonymous Coward, 26 Apr 2018 @ 9:24am

Re:
Police routinely violate the laws they are supposed to enforce ... but this fact does little to justify any of their actions.
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Anonymous Coward, 26 Apr 2018 @ 9:28am

What did the perp do to cause the pursuit? Rob a bank? Do a drive by? Be born not white?
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Anonymous Coward, 26 Apr 2018 @ 9:32am

Re: Re: 'This? This is why people don't trust you.'
How about the person that was driving the car to get in position so he should taser the kid? Wouldn't the driver be an accomplice to the Murder? Isn't that how it works for everyone else?

A getaway driver is still charged with Murder even though he's outside in a car while his buddies killed someone in the bank? He's just as guilty? When the driver of the police car lined up the car or the other person could get his taser shot at the kid.

There's a reason they're called PIGS. The Blue Line is the biggest and worst GANG in the U.S. Look at the woman, called the police and ended up murdered by them. This happens all the time. They protect each other. They will flat out LIE to get you to do what they want, stepping all over your rights. They just don't care. 99% of the time, nothing will happen.

You are more than 9 times more likely to be killed by the police than a Terrorist!!!!! Police these days are scared by their own shadow. They shoot first and ask questions later. You're Guilty until proven innocent. In general, the COURT almost always side with the police. Takes their lying word for everything.
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Anonymous Coward, 26 Apr 2018 @ 9:34am

Re: Re:
They ALL lie and make up B.S. laws and so forth to make YOU do what they want. It's all part of their job.
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Anonymous Coward, 26 Apr 2018 @ 9:36am

Re:
Your frequent attempts to incite rage or stupidity aren't the least bit helpful. Post about the story, not the authors or commenters. In other words, grow up.
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Anonymous Coward, 26 Apr 2018 @ 9:39am

Re: Re: AS A DRIVER...
WRONG!!! The driver line up for the Taser Shot. The driver is an accomplice!!! Just the same way as a Getaway driver out in front of the bank sitting in his car waiting for his buddies to run out of the bank and hop into the car after they shot and killed someone.

The driver is just as guilty as all the others. That's how it works right? Well, how can that not be true in this case? If anything it's worse. The driver helped with the tasing. He helped by getting close enough and to the left side of the ATV driver to make the shot.
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Anonymous Coward, 26 Apr 2018 @ 9:42am

Re:
Cops kill far more people then Terrorism.
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Anonymous Coward, 26 Apr 2018 @ 9:45am

Re:
Well driving an ATV on the street is not legal. BUT that doesn't mean the kid should DIE because of that. This is the typical police overreaction. Shoot first, ask questions later, Guilty, until you can prove you're innocent.

Get pulled over by the police, Put your hands up!!! Clearly so they can be seen as having nothing in them!!! Sometimes that may not be enough.
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Anonymous Coward, 26 Apr 2018 @ 9:55am

Re: Re: Re: Police state
And gun violence is not unknown to Toronto. Sometimes it's a sawed-off shotgun, often a handgun. It's not hard to smuggle things across the USA-Canada border; there are 300,000 people in 150,000 vehicles crossing per day.
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Anonymous Coward, 26 Apr 2018 @ 9:57am

Re: Re: Police state
We're talking about one specific officer here, with no reason to believe he's racist. And some reason to believe he's a good cop.
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David, 26 Apr 2018 @ 10:15am

Re: Re: Re: Police state
Correction: some reason to believe he's a cop. Because he behaved like one. Not like someone on a killing spree while wearing a Halloween uniform.

I mean, we don't call a kindergardener a "good kindergardener" merely because he doesn't molest and eat his wards. The latter is an ogre, not a "bad kindergardener".
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Anonymous Coward, 26 Apr 2018 @ 10:26am

Re: Re:
"In other words, grow up."

We don't do that here!
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Oa.sys (profile), 26 Apr 2018 @ 10:37am

Re: 'This? This is why people don't trust you.'
"Back the f*** up before you get smacked the f*** up" has been mistaken for good departmental policy instead of a 2Pac lyric.
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Anonymous Coward, 26 Apr 2018 @ 10:44am

Re: Re: Re:
I find that depressingly accurate sometimes.
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Anonymous Coward, 26 Apr 2018 @ 10:56am

Re: Re:
Many cops are terrorists
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Anonymous Coward, 26 Apr 2018 @ 2:28pm

Re: Re: Re:
Yes, and saying that they get away with it all the time does nothing to justify their actions. Instead it implies the need for someone to police the police but then who would police them? Recursive quagmire.
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JMT (profile), 26 Apr 2018 @ 3:07pm

Re: I agree but have another opinion
"The kid didn't need to die and the cop shouldn't have tased the kid on a moving vehicle but the kid put himself in harms way running from the cops."

Your horrific attitude is a significant part of the problem. You say he didn't need to die, instead of saying there is absolutely no sane, humane reason why he should have been deliberately put at serious risk of death. What else did the cop think was going to happen? If instead of weak platitudes like yours, a lot more people spoke out against egregious police behavior, real change for the better might be achievable. Too many give this sort of shit a pass.
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JMT (profile), 26 Apr 2018 @ 3:21pm

Re: Re:
I'm genuinely curious to know if this cop was simply intellectually stunted enough to think that we was ok using a non-lethal weapon, and simply couldn't process the consequences of incapacitating someone driving a vehicle at 35mph. Because it's either that or he was a brutal monster.
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Anonymous Coward, 26 Apr 2018 @ 3:49pm

Re: Re:
Driving an ATV on city streets is absolutely legal in many jurisdictions.

Four-Wheel All-Terrain Vehicles Chapter 32-03

Any all-terrain vehicle with four or more wheels with a combustion engine having a piston or rotor displacement of two hundred cubic centimeters or more may be licensed as a motorcycle to be used on a public highway. The licensed four-wheel, all-terrain vehicle may not be operated on the interstate highway.
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That One Guy (profile), 26 Apr 2018 @ 3:50pm

'It's not like they're a REAL person, they don't have a badge.'
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.

His record would seem to argue that it's the latter, not the former.
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That One Guy (profile), 26 Apr 2018 @ 3:56pm

That's what I'd call a 'self-fulfilling prophecy.'
The public is the enemy.

We need to protect ourselves against enemies.

As such we need to get increasingly heavily armed and armored and for our own protection treat the public as the enemy.

See, they see us as the enemy, we were right all along, and if anything that just demonstrates that they're an even bigger threat that we originally thought, requiring even more extreme gear and more combative stances!
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Anonymous Coward, 26 Apr 2018 @ 4:24pm

Re: Re: Re: Re: Police state

Correction: some reason to believe he's a cop. Because he behaved like one. Not like someone on a killing spree while wearing a Halloween uniform.

I like the sentiment, and wish it were the standard...

In the Toronto case it's not really correct. The cop would not have been a thug or "on a killing spree" if he shot a guy who had already killed people and was threatening to shoot people with what appeared to be a gun. The public would have sided with him on this.
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Madd the Sane (profile), 26 Apr 2018 @ 4:37pm

Re:
He did a wheelie on his ATV.

And born not white.
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Madd the Sane (profile), 26 Apr 2018 @ 7:45pm

Re: Re: Re:
In the street where he died, it was illegal, but hardly enforced.
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Anonymous Coward, 26 Apr 2018 @ 8:08pm

Re: Re: Calling it now...
Calling for his death if he gets off is not going to fix the inherent problems within the legal system.

To have the same rules apply to all sides equally, with no "get out of jail free" cards for law enforcement and government prosecutors would be a first step.

To have the law enforcement have higher standards and more serious punishments for infractions of the law may also help.

Calling for mob justice only compounds the problem for all of society. Mob justice is not justice.
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Anonymous Coward, 26 Apr 2018 @ 8:48pm

Re: Re:
"Guilty, until you can prove you're innocent."

No. It's "Guilty. You can prove you're innocent after we've shot you."
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Anonymous Coward, 26 Apr 2018 @ 10:05pm

its a damn shame when bad cops do this shit. you are not the judge jury and exuctioner just because you wear a badge. every cop needs to be psychlogically evaluated
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Anonymous Coward, 26 Apr 2018 @ 11:17pm

Re: Re:
Yeah, how dare somebody risk offending the sensibilities of a consistent, prolific troll. My heart bleeds, truly...
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Anonymous Coward, 27 Apr 2018 @ 5:37am

Re: Re: Re: Calling it now...
He still deserves a taser to the balls at the very least. Probably 40 times.
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Anonymous Coward, 27 Apr 2018 @ 5:38am

Re: Re:
What is wrong with pointing out that someone who idolizes these official murderers deserves to be tarred with the same brush?
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Anonymous Coward, 27 Apr 2018 @ 5:39am

Re: Re: AS A DRIVER...
Doesn't work for getaway drivers...
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Anonymous Coward, 27 Apr 2018 @ 8:56am

Re: Re: Re:
Yet, we don't see the government banning tasers and cops like they try to do with encryption and file-sharing.
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Pixelation, 6 May 2019 @ 6:18pm

Re: Cleaning the house, first steps
Cleaning the Senate, second step.
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