A former Green Township police officer accused of abusing his ex-girlfriend’s infant child has a prior conviction for driving while intoxicated after crashing his police cruiser, according to prosecutors.
Alexander Grimme, 30, pleaded not guilty during an arraignment on Aug. 22 in Hamilton County Common Pleas Court before Magistrate Thomas Beridon. The magistrate set Grimme’s bond at $500,000.
Grimme has been indicted on charges including endangering children, felonious assault and strangulation. He is also facing charges of neglect of a dependent and domestic battery in Franklin County Circuit Court in Indiana.
Prosecutor says child abuse case is ‘extremely serious’
Prosecutors said the victim in Grimme’s most recent case in Ohio is the same as the victim in the earlier Indiana case, which is ongoing. He was in a relationship with the child’s mother, court records state.
“This is an extremely serious case,” Hamilton County Assistant Prosecutor Allison Oswall said.
Oswall said that Grimme brought the then-9-month-old child to his mother’s house in Delhi Township and the infant became unresponsive around 11 a.m. on Jan. 21.
Alexander Grimme, 30, appears via webcam in Hamilton County Common Pleas Court with his attorney for an arraignment on Aug. 22.
The child suffered “abusive head trauma” and was taken by Grimme in the afternoon to the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, where doctors determined his injuries were not accidental, prosecutors said.
Court documents show the child sustained a brain bleed, retinal bleeding, two wrist fractures that had begun healing, as well as bruising to the neck and chest.
Doctors specializing in child abuse found that the infant’s injuries were caused sometime between 5:15 a.m. and 3 p.m., when the boy was in Grimme’s care, Oswall said.
The child, who is now a year old, has permanent brain damage and faces significant developmental delays, according to prosecutors.
Google searches for ‘bruises on babies’ used as evidence
Oswall pointed to Google searches Grimme made, including “signs of shaken baby syndrome” and “bruises on babies that have been strangled,” as evidence of the abuse. She also noted searches about chloroform and how to make mustard gas.
Those searches were found by the child’s mother and reported to police in Indiana, according to an affidavit filed in Franklin County Circuit Court.
Grimme told police that he was accused by his ex-girlfriend’s father of strangling the child and wanted to use the search results to prove that he hadn’t.
In response to questions about the mustard gas search, Grimme initially denied it, but later said he did so during a conversation with his ex-girlfriend at their home and that he was “just fooling around.”
Grimme crashed a police cruiser while intoxicated, has prior domestic violence conviction
Grimme also told police that he’d been charged with domestic violence in a previous divorce. Court records show that Grimme was accused of attempting to hit his ex-wife and putting his hand around her neck in May 2024. He pleaded guilty to misdemeanor domestic violence and was sentenced to probation, with a court order to complete an anger management program.
Green Township police Cpt. Mitch Hill confirmed via email that Grimme worked as an officer for the department for six months before his resignation in the summer of 2021.
Oswall said that Grimme has been on a “downward trajectory” since he crashed his police cruiser while intoxicated. She added that he was convicted in Hamilton County Municipal Court of operating a vehicle while intoxicated and sentenced to probation.
Oswall said that Grimme also served in the U.S. Marine Corps.
“We thank him for his service … but that gives pause to the state, because he is a man with nothing to lose at this point,” Oswall said. “He’s trained in firearms and he has a history of violence against those associated with him.”
An attorney representing Grimme, who appeared via webcam from the Hamilton County Justice Center, said that Grimme turned himself in to authorities. The attorney added that Grimme has partial custody over his three children and is eager to get back to them.
As part of Grimme’s bond, Beridon set a condition to stay away from the victim and prohibited him from having contact with children.
Grimme’s criminal case in Indiana is set to go to trial in November. Another hearing in his Hamilton County case has been set for Sept. 3. He faces up to 22 years in prison if convicted of all charges in Ohio.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Ex-cop accused of child abuse crashed police cruiser while intoxicated
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by PostX News and is published from a syndicated feed.)
