Lawsuit: Mansfield TX officer hit man with flashlight 16 times
A Kennedale person has submitted a federal lawsuit against two North Texas law enforcement officers on statements of extreme use of power, stemming from a 2020 incident when he alleges he was struck 16 times in the encounter with an officer’s metal flashlight.
The guy fled from numerous officers but later on stopped and also was strike in the head with an officer’s gun various times, according to the accommodate.
Police dashboard and system cameras recorded video clip of a person of the defendants hanging Clinton Grimsley with the flashlight and later stating, according to the suit, that “we roughed him up very fantastic. It will be a significant use of pressure. I ended up having a bunch of blood in my mouth — it’s like a bitter taste.”
Grimsley’s lawyers filed the lawsuit in April in Fort Worth.
The lawsuit identified the defendants as Kennedale Officer Christoper Kjelsen and Mansfield Officer Brian Raines.
“This circumstance is a distinct example of when an officer exceeds the degree of pressure needed in a given condition by making use of too much deadly pressure in violation of the Constitution,” stated James Roberts of Addison, 1 of Grimsley’s attorneys, in an e mail. “Mr. Grimsley was unarmed and restrained by numerous officers on the floor when Officer Brian Raines of the Mansfield Law enforcement Division struck him sixteen situations in the encounter with a metal flashlight, triggering predictable and considerable injuries.”
Kennedale Law enforcement Chief Darrell Hull declined to remark on the lawsuit.
Mansfield police stated they would not remark on a pending lawsuit.
In a courtroom document filed June 13 in remedy to the match, Kjelsen admitted that Grimsley was hit in the head during a struggle, but the officer stated that Grimsley refused to comply, fought officers and tried out to get command of Kjelsen’s Taser and handgun. Kjelsen’s reaction suggests that Grimsley hit and hurt extra than a single officer and the power made use of by law enforcement was realistic.
On the exact working day, Raines also submitted a reaction in federal court docket, saying he denied violating Grimsley’s legal rights and denied that any power utilized was unjustified. Raines admitted that he strike Grimsley in the head, “at occasions with his hand by itself and at periods with his flashlight in his hand” but denied hitting him 16 moments and denied laughing about the use of pressure, according to the doc.
The two officers also assert that they are entitled to certified immunity from federal promises.
Grimsley’s lawsuit gave this account of the incident:
On the night time of April 11, 2020, Kennedale officers Brian Andrews and Charles Burns have been dispatched to Grimsley’s Kennedale property, responding to phone calls that Grimsley was beginning fires in his entrance lawn and beating on his porch with an object.
Burns and Andrews encountered Grimsley as he walked from the side of his house, and they requested him to drop a toy sword he was carrying and put his palms up.
Grimsley complied, and he then was purchased to sit down on the front porch.
Burns asked him if needed to converse to a medical doctor and Grimsley said, “That’s why I was praying.”
Burns requested Grimsley to stand up so he could examine for any weapons. Officers removed a pocketknife from his pocket and began to handcuff him, but Grimsley fled from them when he feared that they were being heading to hurt him, the suit claims.
Grimsley ran away with one particular arm handcuffed.
Officer Kjelsen drove up, pointed his gun at Grimsley and instructed him to get on the floor.
Grimsley obtained down and stretched his arms away from his overall body.
Kjelsen wrote in a law enforcement report that he ran up to Grimsley and tripped and fell on Grimsley’s back again.
The lawsuit reported that the officer’s overall body camera showed that Kjelsen ran up to Grimsley and kicked him in the head.
The digicam showed that Grimsley was not threatening any officer or person at the time, in accordance to the fit.
Kjelsen then got on prime of Grimsley and pistol-whipped Grimsley in the back of the head, striking him many moments, the go well with claims.
Numerous minutes later on, Raines, the Mansfield officer, arrived on the scene and virtually straight away started hitting Grimsley in the face with a flashlight, in accordance to the go well with.
Raines’ body camera recorded him hitting Grimsley 16 moments with his steel flashlight, the accommodate suggests.
Raines manufactured various statements soon after Grimsley was positioned in a patrol motor vehicle, according to the online video, indicating, “Nah, I was hitting him quite very good, and received a (expletive) ton of blood in my mouth.”
Raines added, “I punched him and struck him with the flashlight to the confront,” the lawsuit says. “That’s exactly where the injuries are likely to be from.”
Roberts, the legal professional, reported that “Officer Raines laughed and talked flippantly about finding his flashlight dirty when he bloodied it beating Mr. Grimsley to a pulp. This is the kind of habits that must be extinguished from law enforcement departments right before communities will fully trust that legislation enforcement is really in this article to protect and serve.”
Grimsley’s accidents have been so severe, in accordance to the fit, that a paramedic at the scene expressed issue to the officers, stating, “I don’t know if he’s opened one thing up but now, he’s bleeding authentic poor. He’s bleeding in the head real terrible appropriate now. He’s soaking up that mask genuine lousy. Will the jail get him like that?”
Grimsley endured numerous lacerations to his deal with and head, a fractured still left orbital flooring and long-lasting scarring, the lawsuit claims.
As of last week, Kjelsen was nevertheless an officer with Kennedale police. Raines is a sergeant with Mansfield police.
Grimsley was charged with assault on a peace officer, evading arrest and resisting arrest, in accordance to Tarrant County legal court docket records.
The assaulting a peace officer cost was dismissed, but he was sentenced to 150 days in jail on the other two costs, according to court docket information.
Grimsley was sentenced to 20 a long time in jail in 2002 on a murder demand for killing his father in August 2001.
He defeat his father to loss of life with the butt of a shotgun.
This tale was originally posted June 29, 2022 5:00 AM.