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The teenager, Damon Grimes, 15, was illegally riding the ATV in a residential area of Detroit in August 2017. State police officers followed in a patrol car to get him to pull over. When he did not immediately do so, the officer in the passenger seat of the patrol car pulled out his Taser and stunned Damon.
Video footage of the episode showed the ATV veering toward the side of the road. The teenager crashed into the back of a parked truck and died shortly thereafter.
The officer who used the Taser, Mark Bessner, was suspended and then resigned. The Michigan State Police announced it was adjusting its policy so troopers would not pursue vehicles for minor offenses like traffic violations. Criminal charges were filed against Bessner, but his first trial ended with a hung jury in October.
The conviction of involuntary manslaughter could carry a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison; a sentencing hearing is scheduled for May 2. Bessner had also been charged with second-degree murder but was not found guilty on that count.
“The jury made a strong statement today about the defendant’s criminal actions,” Kym Worthy, the prosecutor for Wayne County, Michigan, said in a statement. “I want to thank this jury, and it is my earnest hope that this verdict brings some small semblance of peace to the Grimes family.”
The Michigan State Police, which has said that Bessner “undisputedly acted outside of MSP policy and training,” said in another statement Wednesday that it appreciated the jury’s deliberation and was grateful to Wayne County prosecutors. “We send our sincere condolences to the family, friends and supporters of Damon Grimes,” it added.
The Detroit Free Press used freedom of information requests to unearth audio recordings and video footage of the death. In that footage, Bessner could be seen speaking to police dispatch after the crash as he stood near where Damon lay unresponsive on the street.
“He slowed down,” the trooper said. “We Tased him and he crashed out.” At the time, officers could be heard checking his pulse, and an ambulance was on the way. But Damon was pronounced dead at a hospital.
The Free Press also reported that before the encounter with Damon, Bessner had been reprimanded for violating procedures and disciplined for misusing a Taser.
Murder and manslaughter prosecutions of officers are rare — even when they use lethal firearms or fire multiple rounds — and convictions are even rarer. The overwhelming majority of police shootings are judged by prosecutors to have been legally justified under the circumstances, even if they seemed egregious to the public.
Taser stun guns, which shoot electrified barbs instead of bullets, have become more popular over the past two decades because they are generally less lethal than firearms. But, as in the case of Bessner and some others, Tasers can be deadly, and some police departments have a complicated history with the weapons.
At his trial last year, Bessner told jurors that he had thought Damon was reaching for a gun at his waistband during the chase and that he was later “shocked” to learn the teenager was unarmed, The Associated Press reported. He called the death “a terrible tragedy.”
A lawyer for Bessner did not immediately respond to requests for comment Wednesday.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.