Unreasonable force by police Arrests by force is not unconstitutional, or illegal. If the manner of the arrest was reasonable and the amount of force was reasonably necessary, then the arrest by force, and the use of force during the arrest, is justified. The public’s opinion about force is very distorted since it focuses on unreasonable usage of force when an arrest is being made. The definition of “unreasonable force” is one not named in Black’s Law Dictionary, however it could be stated that unreasonable force is the use of force by a police officer that a reasonable person would find excessive under the circumstances. Black’s Law Dictionary 2nd Ed.’s definition of excessive force is:
“In a given situation, the use of aggressive capability
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This was an ancient common-law rule. Since the 1960s, the police departments have adopted various rules that have restricted the common-law rule. Nowadays, officers may only use deadly force under to conditions: (a) it’s necessary to apprehend “dangerous” suspects, and (b) it doesn’t put innocent people in danger.
A great recent example of unreasonable deadly force, sadly, is the death of Eric Garner. Where the victim, Eric Garner, had just broken up a fight and was being stopped by officers, because he was suspected of selling “loosies” . After Mr. Garner proceeded to say he didn’t sell anything, and to ask the bystanders, the officers, Damico and Pantaleo, ignored it. Garner suggested that Damico and/or Pantaleo have made the same allegation once before, and he had then proven he was innocent. One police officer tries to handcuff Garner, and Garner pulls his arms away. He is then placed in a chokehold, and surrounded by multiple officers. When Garner was placed on the ground, he was put out of the chokehold and had his faced then pressed to the ground. Eric Garner said the phrase “I can’t breathe” a total of eleven times before he died, without any officer doing anything about it. Eric Garner was dead upon arrival at the hospital, and the causes of death were the compression of the neck (which is
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On the night of March 3, 1991, Rodney King, Bright Allen and Freddie Helms had just left a friend’s house after watching a basketball game. The blood alcohol level of the men was more than was allowed, and it finally resulted in a high speed chase. The first five LAPD officers to arrive at the scene were Stacey Koon, Laurence Powell, Timothy Wind, Theodore Briseno, and Rolando Solano. Allen and Helms had first been to exit the car, upon which Allen had been stomped, taunted, manhandled and kicked. Helms had been hit and suffered a head wound while in custody. After that, King came out of the car, and acted bizarrely. The famous Holliday video shows King getting tazered for the second time by officer Koon. King fell to the ground, rose up again, and rushed, and collided, with officer Powell. Powell then hit King with his baton, and when King fell to the ground, Powell struck him multiple times with his baton. Briseno then stopped Powell from hitting King again. After that, King rose again, and was beaten once more by Powell, only now with the assistance of Wind, with batons. King then stood up once more, to which Koon ordered to hit him with “power strokes”, and after that to “hit his joints, hit his wrists, hit his elbows, hit his knees, hit his ankles.” After 58 baton blows and six kicks, the officers put on the handcuffs and cordcuffs on
There are several different types of force. These types of force include verbal commands or persuasion, physical force (unarmed), force using weapons that are non lethal, force that involves using weapons such as the bean bag gun or taser, and lastly, deadly force. All officers have to give way to each force option before last resorting to the use of deadly force, unless of course if the officer is in a life or death situation. This may be the only way to use deadly force in the first and last resort. They have a couple of weapons that they carry in case the need to use them arises. They carry a baton, tasers, handcuffs, guns and they also have police dogs. Some police do follow the guidelines for using force. Others may abuse their authority and not use force properly. It is really only up to the officers to do the right thing. Some cops are great and live to protect our communities while others abuse their authority.
Police have the uncontested right to use force when necessary to apprehend a suspect. If the force exceeds that which is necessary it is defined as excessive force and is illegal. An officer’s discretion on use of force is a based on judgment. They do not know if a judge will later rule an instance of use of force as excessive or not. There is a fine line between what is considered acceptable force and what is considered excessive force. All an
On March 3, 1991 Rodney King led the Los Angeles police on a high speed chase. Once the chase was over officers pulled King out of his vehicle and began to brutally beat,taze and stomp on him. The recording of the video taken by a witness standing on the other side of the street was locally broadcasted then nationally broadcasted.The reasons that police officers acted the way they did was because “Rodney King was driving while intoxicated and when officers attempted to arrest him, the large belligerent man resisted that arrest.” (Blue Knights with Lt. Dan Marcou ) It was already said that King had a criminal record of second degree robbery and out on parole so the officers were aware of who he was by now. I also believe that racial profiling was another factor that caused the police officers to act they way that they did. As stated by Connie Rice a lawyer and civil rights activist , “The LAPD at the time was almost an occupying force, partially biased against people of color.” (Sastry & Bates) Personally, I do not believe that the officers acted in an appropriate matter because instead of pulling him from his car and brutally beating him they should've just gone up to him and arrested him. I understand that he was seen as a threat during this time because of the high speed chase but there were other ways that they could have handled the situation. The use of forces that could have been appropriate for this situation were verbal commands, maybe a bit of empty hand control with the soft empty hand technique and if he resisted then that is when the use of less lethal force would of been used. Also they found out that in the first three seconds of the film were cut of and showed that “Rodney King rising up from the street to charge one officer in a clear-cut violent assault. In self defense, that officer struck King with his PR-24.” (Blue Knights with Lt. Dan Marcou.) Now with this new information I believe that the officer had a right to defend himself however not to the extent that they all went. Hitting King ith the PR-24 would have caused him to fall and during that time they could have arrested him instead. According to Biography.com, “The United States Department of Justice filed federal civil rights charges
In the “Encyclopedia of Violence, Peace, and conflict” the author discusses how many uses of force by the police cannot be labeled police brutality or excessive force. This is because in the line of duty police may need to utilize the use of force out of necessity. The author continues by stating that police officers in society today commonly have to use power against its citizens for reasons in everyday police work or in order to maintain control over certain circumstances. However, the Authors Fyfe and Skolnick state: that they believe police brutality is used as a way of police asserting power in unjust ways due to lack of training, negligence or mistake of circumstances within a certain
The use of deadly force by police officers is a very important subject in today’s society. Many consider the use of deadly force excessive in most cases. However, there are many aspects to look at when considering this topic, such as: Why was deadly force required? When did the officer feel it necessary to apply deadly force? What will be the implications for the officer after the fact? How does the use of deadly force affect society as a whole?
This can happen in the form of beating a person while making the arrest or using any unnecessary force against the person. Sometimes police beatings can be racially based or can happen due to an argument between the officer and the person. The use of excessive force in the law enforcement industry is not tolerated in any form. If a police officer is found guilty in using unnecessary force on a person they will be terminated from their job. Using unnecessary force is one of the more know types of police misconduct being that when excessive force is used on a person there is normally charges pressed on the officer and the case is brought into court and therefore into the media.
The use of deadly force in extreme situations goes back several hundred years when it was first admitted as a right during the early nineteenth century as sheriffs realized that they needed to kill certain threatening individuals in order to protect others. Thousands of police officers were killed during the recent decades and this raises an alarm regarding the authority to use deadly force. Individuals criticizing this right have to acknowledge that police officers fight with the purpose of preserving a peaceful world and are constantly exposed to criminals who are unhesitant about
Excessive force and police brutality have become common terms for anyone keeping up with today’s current events. In 2014, the media covered numerous cases of excessive force that resulted in the deaths of several people of color (Nelson & Staff, 2014). The most widely covered cases by the media in 2014 were of Michael Brown, an 18-year-old black male shot and killed by police officer Darren Wilson in Ferguson, Missouri; and Eric Garner, a 43-year-old black male in Staten Island, New York who was put into a choke by police officer Daniel Pantaleo until he lost consciousness and stopped breathing (Nelson & Staff, 2014). These cases brought attention to the seriousness of police brutality and the curiosity of how often it occurs (Brown, 2015).
The beginnings of the riots came on March 3, 1991, when Rodney King was stopped and brutally assaulted by police. King was stopped after a high speed chase police after police caught him intoxicated and was subsequently forced out of the car (History.com). From there, police began to unlawfully assault Rodney King, leaving him with a fractured skull, along with a broken cheekbone (History.com). A witness, George Holliday, filmed the officers beating Rodney King; a day after the tape was airing on CNN for the rest of the country to witness (Los Angeles Daily News). Four officers were later arrested and put to trial a year later, however all of them were not pleaded guilty. The verdict angered a massive amount of African
the use of excessive force. Many people have witnessed or have become victims of police brutality. In their line of duty, police officers are sometimes faced with threatening circumstances that enable them to make haste decisions when expecting the worst at the same time hope for the best outcome. A police officer is given the power to maintain law and order as well as to take away any right of a citizen when a situation permits (Heydon, 2005). Thus, they have the responsibility to apply the forces in a recommended way. Therefore, police are trained to use the least amount of force necessary to make an arrest by using escalations of force. However, sometimes police exceed the minimum amount required to diffuse an incident or protect them, which leads to misconduct or undue violence when not warranted.
Whenever a law enforcement officer places an individual under arrest or is involved in a deadly force scenario the officer has used some degree of force. The incidents where an office has to make a split second decision and use physical force to control a situation is known as “Use of Force.” The use of force varies as situations present themselves to the officer and they must decide what level of force is necessary to control the situation. Often the use of force is subject to much debate and not a year goes by without some media coverage of some law enforcement officer accused of using excessive force. In dozens of studies of police use of force there is no single,
In the car that was speeding was three subjects later identified as Allen and Freddie Helms and driver Rodney King. The Helms brothers complied with officers commands and where apprehended with out incident. Rodney King on the other hand was rather difficult, by not listening to commands by officers and being comical. After a hassle of getting out of the vehicle, officers approached King in the prone with caution fearing he was on a known drug at the time called Phencyclidine (PCP), with a swarming tactic. King fought off the swarming tactic and
Police officers are given a significant amount of discretion simply due to the nature of the job. Officers are faced with many threatening situations forcing them to react quickly, yet appropriately. They have the power to infringe upon any citizen’s rights to freedom and therefore they must use this power effectively. One major concern with the amount of discretion officers have is their power to decide when to use force or when to use lethal force. Manning (1997) argues that it is generally accepted that police should be allowed to use force. He also explains that there are an uncertain amount people who agree on as to what constitutes excessive force. The line
One instance of excessive force that was executed by law enforcement was on Lavall Hall. Two years ago, in February the family of Lavall Hall called the police after he left the house. The family claimed the Lavall was a paranoid schizophrenic. The police searched or Lavall and found him on the sidewalk with a broom stick in hand. The law enforcement officers approach Lavall and he strikes both police officers in the head with the broom stick. One of the officers fired five shots directed towards Lavall Hall, two of the bullets hit him and ended his life. After this happened, the family filed a civil lawsuit against the City of Miami Gardens former city police chief Steven Johnson and the two officers that where on the scene, officer Eddo Trimino and officer
Whenever police officers come into contact with citizens, there is a chance that the encounter will digress to one in which force is used on a suspect. Fortunately, most police activities, such as traffic or investigative stops, or even arrests, do not result in the use of force (Alpert, 2004).