Officers shot man 12 times from behind

[rdc2007]

Officers shot man 12 times from behind

by Brendan McCarthy and Laura Maggi, The Times-Picayune Friday January 02, 2009, 9:21 PM


The 22-year-old man killed early Thursday in a police shootout was wounded 14 times, with 12 of the bullets hitting him in the back of his body, Orleans Parish Coroner Frank Minyard said.


After releasing a terse statement about the shooting Thursday morning, New Orleans police officials ducked questions about the shootout Friday. Meanwhile, the family of Adolph Grimes III, a Brother Martin High School graduate, demanded a thorough criminal investigation, including a federal inquiry and an independent autopsy.


Minyard said Friday evening that Grimes died after suffering 14 bullet wounds. Two bullets hit him in the front torso, and 12 struck him from behind, in the lower back and legs. In all, eight bullets were retrieved from Grimes' body.


"I'm no expert, but they look like they were .40 caliber, the Glock that the police issue, " Minyard said. "He was shot up pretty good."


A full autopsy and toxicology report is pending, and the results won't be available for several weeks, Minyard said.


In releasing details of Grimes' death, Minyard called it a "big case" and said because of that, he wanted to be forthcoming about his findings.


As of Friday night, Grimes' father, Adolph Grimes Jr., had spoken to police detectives, but he had not yet seen his son's body.


Informed of the coroner's finding, Grimes paused, then his voice cracked.
"If they shot him in his back, he was running because they were shooting at him, " Grimes said. "Why would they do my child that way?"


Many questions remain

Grimes, a New Orleans native who relocated to Houston after Hurricane Katrina, had returned to the city to visit relatives on New Year's Eve, his family said. Grimes had no criminal record in Orleans or Jefferson parishes, records show.


On New Year's Day at about 3 a.m., a volley of gunfire exploded near the corner of Gov. Nicholls Street and North Claiborne Avenue in the 6th Ward. Grimes was pronounced dead, his body sprawled on the sidewalk about 40 paces from the spot where his car was last parked.


The New Orleans Police Department issued a news release hours after the shooting death saying that Grimes fired several times at officers, who had no recourse but to return fire. But department officials have declined to comment or answer further questions about what happened, and an NOPD spokesman did not return several requests for comment Friday.


Many details of the shooting remain unanswered. How many officers were involved? How many bullets were fired? By whom? What prompted officers to confront Grimes and why would he pull a gun and fire on them?


The NOPD's statement said officers on routine patrol "observed a suspicious vehicle occupied by one male" parked on the street.


"The officers attempted to interact with the individual, who immediately fired a handgun at the officers, " the statement read. "The officers ordered the suspect to drop the weapon but he refused, while continuing to fire the weapon at the officers."


The statement continued: "Those officers, whose lives were in imminent danger, then fired at the suspect."


The police noted that officers recovered Grimes' weapon, a semiautomatic handgun with an extended magazine. "The suspect was also in possession of two fully loaded magazines, " the statement read.


The statement did not say whether the gun was in the car, on Grimes' person or somewhere in between.


Grimes' family said he did carry a gun, a 9 mm semiautomatic that they say he purchased legally and obtained a permit for in Texas. But family members say they don't believe he shot at officers.


Police were on lookout

NOPD Superintendent Warren Riley, who could not be reached for comment Friday, told WVUE-TV a day earlier that Grimes "was in a vehicle that fit the description of a vehicle we were looking for that was involved in a reported shooting."


Riley did not say when that shooting occurred.


The NOPD's major offense log, which lists incidents such as shootings and armed robberies, makes no mention of any New Year's Eve shootings.
A man was gunned down in the 2800 block of Clouet Street -- several miles away in the 9th Ward -- that morning, but it took place about five minutes after the police shooting of Grimes, according to the same log.


The police log from Thursday states that district detectives were in the area looking for someone who had illegally discharged a weapon or had lit fireworks. The officers approached a suspicious vehicle, and the person inside it pointed a gun at the officers, according to that log. The officers fired at the subject, the log said.


In an updated log issued Friday, police state that "officers approached a suspicious subject. The subject fired at the officers, the officers returned fire striking the subject. He expired on scene."


In town for New Year's

Grimes' family said he arrived in New Orleans just before midnight from Houston and that the family celebrated the new year at a relative's house on the West Bank.


Grimes, the father of an 18-month-old boy, returned to his grandmother's house in the 6th Ward at about 2 a.m., his family said. He took a long bath. Shortly before 3 a.m., they said, he went outside to wait in his car for a relative. They intended to go to an Uptown bar.


Then the shooting happened.


Grimes' family called the FBI's New Orleans office Thursday to lodge a civil rights complaint. FBI spokeswoman Sheila Thorne confirmed that a complaint has been made and said the office has not determined whether to open an investigation into the shooting.


Meanwhile, the NOPD has reassigned an unidentified number of officers, and their actions will be reviewed by the department's internal affairs unit. The department's homicide division is investigating the shooting, and detectives could be seen knocking on doors and canvassing the neighborhood Friday morning.


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[DSF Guest 7]

Who said New Orleans would never be the same again?

[Trips]

It happened here in houston too a couple of weeks ago. In the Chronicle (newspaper) the people responding to the story were overwhelmingly in support of the police.


In other news I hate stupid people.

[MillyMc]

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My new pet peeve/addiction is reading the comments section for newspapers and aol (Yahoo deleted theres a year ago bc they became a cesspool). The comments are filled with like love for police, hate against minorities and libs, and just the most ignorant comments possible.

Where do these people come from and how are they smart enough to even turn on the internet? How can these people be sooo wrong about everything?

[Boon]

Ok, so at least they hit him twice in the front. Nobody is perfect.

[Moose_Thompson]

Why stop? Surely they weren't out of bullets yet.

[jerrys_kid]

i always heard new orleans police were some of the most corrupt police

[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.



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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!