A state review released Wednesday determined three Alaska State Troopers and a North Slope Borough detective were justified in shooting at a 45-year-old Fairbanks man during a chaotic confrontation that included a high-speed chase and exchange of gunfire near Healy last fall.
The four law enforcement officers did not strike Michael Grimes on Nov. 1, according to the review by the Office of Special Prosecutions. Grimes fatally shot himself, it said.
The 12-page review was sent Friday to Col. Maurice Hughes, the director of the troopers, and Chief Jeffrey Brown of the North Slope Borough Police Department. The review provided a detailed account of the confrontation between law enforcement and Grimes before his death.
The Fairbanks Areawide Narcotics Team planned to stop Grimes while he was driving north on the Parks Highway because police suspected he was selling drugs, the review said. The team, which included the North Slope Borough police detective, believed Grimes and his passenger would be armed and deemed the traffic stop “high risk” because of Grimes’ prior violent history, it said. They requested help from a troopers crime suppression unit and other troopers.
The officers planned to stop Grimes near Mile 251 outside Healy and staged additional officers and tire deflation devices farther down the highway, the review said. Grimes initially pulled to the side of the highway, but then fled at a high speed after hitting a trooper’s vehicle, it said.
His truck began to lose speed after it struck the tire deflation devices roughly four miles down the road, the review said. Troopers used maneuvers that included striking Grimes’ truck with their vehicles in an attempt to stop him, and in return, Grimes shot at Sgt. Aaron Mobley, the review said. He continued to flee and Trooper Trevor Norris fired at him through the window of his patrol vehicle, the review said. During the pursuit, Grimes reached speeds over 100 mph, the review said.
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Numerous officers got out of their vehicles and took cover as Grimes’ vehicle began to stop, according to the review. Troopers Scott McAfee, Norris, and Mobley and North Slope Borough Police Department detective John-Ashton Swope all fired at Grimes’ truck as it began to move again, the review said. It stopped and officers ordered the occupants to get out.
A woman in the passenger seat exited the vehicle and was detained, the review said. Troopers removed Grimes from the vehicle but he was unresponsive, according to the review.
Investigators and the Medical Examiner’s Office determined Grimes had died by suicide, the review said.
Investigators found a large quantity of drugs while searching the truck, the review said. It did not specify the amount or type of drugs involved.
They later interviewed one of Grimes’ family members, who said Grimes previously told them he would not go back to prison and the family “worried that ‘suicide by cop’ would be a very possible course of action if he was ever caught by law enforcement,” according to the review.
This is the second Office of Special Prosecutions review of a deadly encounter involving Alaska State Troopers to be released recently. The state agency last month determined a trooper was justified in his use of force during another shooting outside a Tok motel in November. Troopers released dash-camera footage of the shooting following the state’s finding.