Former state trooper sentenced to prison for tasering teen before his death

A former Michigan state trooper was sentenced to at least five years in prison Monday in the death of a Detroit teen who died in an all-terrain vehicle crash after being shot with a Taser, according to The Associated Press.

Wayne County Circuit Judge Margaret Van Houten sentenced Mark Bessner to a prison term of five to 15 years. He will be eligible for parole in five years.

{mosads}”It is the few officers like you who have caused the distrust of police officers that plagues our community in Detroit, the state of Michigan and throughout the country,” Van Houten said.

She also said Bessner had “abused the public’s trust.”

Bessner apologized to Grimes’s family but said it was “a no-win situation for the police out there,” according to the AP.

Bessner was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in April for firing his Taser from the passenger seat of his patrol car while chasing Damon Grimes, 15, in August 2017. Grimes died after slamming into a parked truck.

Bessner had been cleared of misconduct related to his use of a Taser during a chase two months before Grimes’s death.

Bessner quit the state police force after Grimes’s death.