Attempt to run over troopers denied

Attorney claims suspect was unaware of officers

The Patriot News

January 29, 2009

By Matt Miller

Of Our Cumberland County Bureau

“We adamantly disagree with the commonwealth’s position on the aggravated assault charges,” Barrouk said. “He never intended to strike a police officer. He was unaware that a police officer was behind his vehicle.”

A Cumberland County man who was shot and wounded by two state troopers at the end of a high-speed chase wasn’t trying to endanger the officers when they opened fire, according to his attorney.

*Joshua M. Grimes, 27, of Lower Frankford Twp., who is charged with crimes including drunken driving and aggravated assault, didn’t even know that the troopers were near his sport utility vehicle, defense attorney Tim Barrouk said in an interview Wednesday.*

*”We adamantly disagree with the commonwealth’s position on the aggravated assault charges,” Barrouk said.*

*”He never intended to strike a police officer. He was unaware that a police officer was behind his vehicle.”*

Police said the troopers fired as Grimes backed toward them after they had chased him for 11 miles at speeds of up to 90 mph on back roads in the county’s western reaches.

The chase began at Routes 11 and 233 in West Pennsboro Twp. around 11:30 p.m. Nov. 30 when Grimes, who had a drunken driving conviction in 2006, fled a sobriety stop, police said. The shooting occurred at Grahams Woods and Enola roads.

District Attorney David Freed was skeptical of Barrouk’s claim that Grimes didn’t deliberately endanger the officers.

“The only reason that [Grimes] wouldn’t have known the police were there was that his level of intoxication was so high,” Freed said. “My review of the evidence shows a clear intent” by Grimes to harm the troopers.

Freed ruled in December that the troopers were justified in shooting Grimes because they believed they were in danger of being injured or killed.

Police said Trooper Rodney Fink shot Grimes as Grimes backed toward him while Cpl. Daniel Diehl shot a tire on Grimes’ SUV.

Barrouk said his client isn’t contesting Freed’s conclusion regarding the justification for the shooting.

*Instead, Barrouk said he is concentrating on fighting the criminal charges, which also include reckless endangerment, fleeing police, resisting arrest, simple assault and numerous traffic offenses.*

District Judge Vivian Cohick ordered Grimes to be tried in county court on those counts after a preliminary hearing Friday.

Grimes is in county prison in lieu of $100,000 bail.

*Barrouk declined to discuss other aspects of the case, including why Grimes allegedly fled the police.*

Grimes spent more than a month in Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center after being shot, Barrouk said. He said it is too early to tell if Grimes has suffered permanent injuries.

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