Alleged cop-killer Brandon Grimes and two friends rode around in a van smoking two blunts of marijuana before a fatal encounter that left a Baltimore police officer dead, Grimes’ former girlfriend testified Wednesday.
“I was high,” Kelly Carter told jurors in Baltimore City Circuit Court. “When I heard the gunshots, my high wore off very quickly.”
Grimes, 23, is accused of killing off-duty Baltimore Police Detective Troy Chesley during a botched robbery as the plainclothes officer was about to enter his northwest Baltimore home.
Carter, the second witness called by prosecutors, gave the following account on the stand:
She, Grimes and another friend drove around after 1 a.m. Jan. 9, 2007, when Grimes got a call on his cell phone.
“OK, I’ll be there,” he responded.
When they parked around the corner from the 4500 block of Fairfax Road, Grimes pulled out a gun and stuck it in Carter’s face as a joke, she testified.
“I said, ‘I don’t play with stuff like that,’ ” she said. “He burst out laughing.”
Grimes then got out of the car and disappeared around the corner of Fairfax – and within seconds Carter said she heard gunshots.
Grimes, bleeding, called out for help, and his friends rushed him to St. Agnes Hospital.
“It’s cold; it’s cold,” Grimes said as blood spilled out from his leg in the van, leading Carter to believe the then-21-year-old was going to die.
Chesley’s girlfriend, Tia Williams, was the first witness called.
While Grimes was being rushed to the hospital, Williams was going through emotional hell, she testified.
Unknown to Williams, Chesley — her boyfriend of 10 years —was lying on the pavement in front of the couple’s shared apartment, where a bullet had just pierced a window.
“I called Troy’s phone,” a visibly upset Williams testified. “Troy didn’t answer.”
Prosecutor Kevin Wiggins, during his opening arguments, said Grimes shot Chesley twice: Once in the shoulder, and once in the side, puncturing his lung. Chesley returned fire, striking Grimes in the leg.
“He bled as he left and ran away,” Wiggins said.
Grimes’ attorney, Roland Walker, told jurors that his client is innocent, and that someone else likely shot both men as they happened to be on the same block.
“He’s not the guy,” Walker said. “… He didn’t commit the crime.”
During Carter’s testimony, Wiggins asked her whether she knew Chesley before the shooting occurred; Carter said she did not. She said she did not even recognize his face when shown a picture by police.
That testimony appeared to refute a comment made by Walker during pretrial motions when he alleged he had evidence that Chesley and Grimes were both dating Carter.
After hearing Carter’s flat-out denial of ever knowing Chesley, Walker never mentioned that allegation while she was on the witness stand.
Carter said Grimes — who had a police record of 17 arrests – was prone to emotional mood swings.
“I’m not saying Brandon is a saint or anything like that, but I can’t see him shooting a police officer in uniform,” she testified.
The trial is expected to continue today.
