Officers shot man 12 times from behind

[rdc2007]

Seven officers fired at man during 'gunbattle,' chief says

by Laura Maggi and Brendan McCarthy, The Times-Picayune Saturday January 03, 2009, 9:47 PM

CHRIS GRANGER / THE TIMES-PICAYUNE



Seven New Orleans police officers fired their weapons at a 22-year-old man who was killed early Thursday while sitting in a car outside his grandmother's house, Superintendent Warren Riley said Saturday.
The seven were among nine officers reassigned in the wake of the fatal shooting.

Riley said Adolph Grimes III sparked a "gunbattle" with officers when he fired at an unmarked police vehicle that pulled up next to his car. The officers, who were involved in undercover patrols, were wearing street clothes.
Grimes died in the shooting near North Claiborne Avenue and Gov. Nicholls Street.



Orleans Parish Coroner Frank Minyard said Grimes was struck by 14 bullets, with two hitting him in the front torso. The other 12 wounds were in his lower back and legs, Minyard said Friday.



At a news conference Saturday, Riley disputed that characterization, saying Grimes was hit in the front, on the side under the arm and "near the back." Although he said "numerous" rounds were fired, Riley said he could not give an exact number.



Grimes' relatives have questioned police accounts of the shooting, with several saying he had no reason to shoot at police. The Brother Martin High School graduate has lived in Houston, where he worked as a cable installer, since Hurricane Katrina, his family said. He was in town to visit family.
Adolph Grimes Jr. said he has asked the FBI to investigate his son's shooting. An FBI spokeswoman said Friday that the agency has not decided whether to open an investigation.



Officers reassigned


All nine officers involved have been reassigned to desk duty pending the homicide division's investigation of whether the shooting was justified, Riley said. He refused to identify the officers, saying it is "inappropriate" unless the department determines they did something wrong.



The nine officers, part of a 1st District narcotics unit working undercover to target armed robbers, included three women and six men. They were dressed like tourists, and the women would pose as "decoys" -- potential victims -- for robbers, Riley said.



The unit received a report around 2:45 a.m. of a shooting outside Club Fabulous at 810 N. Claiborne Ave., he said.



The officers headed to the club and saw a black vehicle leaving from under the elevated Interstate 10, Riley said. One group of officers went to the club, while another started canvassing the area, coming upon a black Toyota Camry, with Grimes inside, in the 1700 block of Gov. Nicholls Street.
As officers came up beside the car, Grimes fired a shot at them, Riley said. He would not describe the officers' unmarked vehicle, saying it will be used in future undercover operations.



The officers got out of their vehicle, and Grimes exited his car on the passenger side, Riley said.



"A gunbattle or gunfight ensued, which resulted in the death of this young man," Riley said.



Grimes pointed his gun at officers, Riley said, but he could not say whether he fired more than once.



Riley said police are investigating what the officers said as they left their vehicle. "I don't know if he knew they were police when the first shot was fired," he said.



Grimes' body was found around the corner, about 40 paces away, in front of a house facing North Claiborne Avenue.



Although Riley said two groups of officers in two unmarked cars were involved, he did not say when the second vehicle arrived.



Details conflict


An attorney for the officers provided slightly different details. Eric Hessler, an attorney for the Fraternal Order of Police and several of the reassigned officers, said the officers pulled up to Grimes' car in two unmarked vehicles and turned on blue flashing lights on their dashboards.



The officers saw Grimes pull a gun, Hessler said. Then Grimes fired a shot through the rear window of his car, he said.



"Obviously, they are trained to defend themselves," Hessler said. "The one thing all seven of these officers had in common is that they all felt threatened," he said. "All seven, unequivocally, fired several rounds."
Hessler said the officers reported that Grimes left his vehicle and, carrying his gun, ran away from one group of officers and toward the other group. "The way it was described to me, quite honestly, I'm surprised he wasn't hit more," Hessler said.



Hessler, a former NOPD officer, said officers "quite literally took the gun from his hands" after he fell to the pavement.



Riley said a gun was found on Grimes but would not specify where.
The officers have spoken to police investigators but, as of Saturday night, had not given formal taped statements, Hessler said.



Grimes' father acknowledged that his son owned a 9 mm handgun but said he had a Texas permit for it.



Gun had been fired


The condition of Grimes' gun shows it was fired, Riley said, but he could not say whether any of the shell casings collected by police at the scene matched the gun. He declined to say whether police had performed a gunpowder residue test on Grimes, saying that will "come out as the investigation continues."



Grimes' brother-in-law said Friday that he had fired the gun into the ground on the West Bank at midnight in celebration of the new year. Grimes never fired his own gun, he said.



Grimes, the father of an 18-month-old son, had no criminal record, several family members said. Searches of online criminal databases support that claim.



Adolph Grimes Jr. said several details of the police account did not make sense to him. His son had arrived in New Orleans from Houston just before midnight, welcoming the new year at a relative's house on the West Bank.
Grimes ended up at his grandmother's house in the 1700 block of Gov. Nicholls Street about 2 a.m., his family said. He took a bath and just before 3 a.m. went outside to his car, waiting for a relative. The two men planned to head to an Uptown bar.



"He didn't jump out of the passenger side, the door was open on the driver's side," Grimes' father said. He said the door frame of the vehicle was riddled with bullet holes.



The gun carried by his son was not loaded, Grimes said. "My son never fired the weapon," he said.



Assistant Police Superintendent Marlon Defillo said that on Saturday evening, as crime lab investigators began to "process" the car, they found an assault shotgun in the trunk along with a "high velocity" magazine clip for the 9 mm handgun and shotgun shells.


Grimes said he did not know whether his son owned another weapon, but that if he did, it would be registered.



The president of the Police Association of New Orleans said the group believes the officers acted properly.



"We stand behind their actions and we feel that once the investigation is completed, their actions will be determined to be correct and proper and will fall within departmental guidelines," Capt. Michael Glasser said.



Original story:

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[Boon]

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This fucking news story doesn't even make sense. Did he die in the car, or around the corner? The entire thing sounds like he was just at the wrong place at the wrong time...with a handgun and a tricked out shotgun. OH, the handgun wasn't loaded, but he let his dumbass bro squeeze a round off into the ground on New Years. Yeah, that's smart.

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And it's "high capacity", dumbass.

[JLE1020]

12 times in the back? Damn, that's the worst case of suicide I ever saw!

[strommsarnac]

Interesting that the family didn't first report that Grimes did have a gun. Nor did they mention that it had recently been fired. Convenient that it was the brother who fired it.

Sounds to me like both sides are not telling the whole truth.

All I know and believe is that you shouldn't fuck with cops. Anyone doing so is just plain stupid. Cop tells you to stop, you stop. Anyone pointing a gun at a cop should expect to be shot down. None of that "shoot to wound" crap. If you don't intend to kill someone with that gun, don't point it at someone. Gun accidents don't happen, people accidents do. Don't want to have that accident, don't put yourself in that place.

Personally, I don't by the excuse "He shouldn't have shot me in the back, I was running away." OH, yea, you were running away so you could commit another crime later. People forget that leaving the scene of a crime is a crime to. I for one want a cop to shoot an armed suspect who is running away. Chances are they aren't innocent. Much lower chance than that armed suspect will commit a violent crime later. Stop them when you can.

[Trips]

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I'm guessing you also believe that cops chasing down someone at high speeds on the free way is also acceptable. Even though 7/10 times they end up injuring innocent civilians.