A vigil erupts into anger on the city’s east side. Family and friends want justice for the 15 year-old killed after getting involved in a chase with Michigan State Police.
Fifteen-year-old Damon Grimes died on Saturday. He was riding his ATV in the area of Rossini and Gratiot. He got involved with an MSP Trooper. MSP reports there was a chase and the trooper deployed his taser. Grimes crashed into the back of a pick-up truck and died.
Now his family is devastated. Detroit Police are conducting an independent investigation. MSP has suspended the trooper. The family is working with Finger Law and is filing a lawsuit against MSP.
The family held a vigil with hundreds of people on Wednesday night. They said a prayer and released balloons.
The vigil started to get rowdy and spilled out onto Gratiot. There was chanting, fireworks and people stopped traffic.
DPD officers arrived and secured the scene and blocked traffic on Gratiot. DPD calls it a successful situation. There was no violence and no one was arrested.
“When it comes to crowd management we have to have a reasonable expectation of what that means. If they’re not tearing up any property, if they’re not harming anybody then the best course at that point is to maintain a perimeter and allow them to demonstrate peacefully and again hold our position and we did that and the strategy did work,” said Deputy Chief Elvin Barren with Detroit Police Department.
