Credit Wayne County Prosecutor's Office
A former Michigan state trooper who fired his Taser at a Detroit teenager on an all-terrain vehicle has been convicted of involuntary manslaughter.
Mark Bessner fired the Taser from the passenger seat of a patrol car while he and his partner chased Damon Grimes in 2017.
The 15-year-old crashed the ATV and died.
Bessner was charged with second-degree murder but a jury convicted him today on the lesser manslaughter charge.
Bessner says he believed the teen was armed and reaching for a gun in his waistband. But Grimes had no weapon.
Bessner quit the state police after Grimes' death.
This was Bessner's second trial. A different jury last fall couldn't reach a unanimous verdict.
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