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Graham V. Connor Case Summary

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The leading case on use of force is the 1989 Supreme Court decision in Graham v. Connor. In Graham, the plaintiff Graham, a diabetic, asked his friend to drive him to a convenience store to purchase orange juice to counteract the onset of an insulin reaction. Upon entering the store and seeing the number of people ahead of him, Graham hurried out and asked his friend, Berry, to drive him to another friend’s home instead. Defendant, Officer Connor became suspicious after seeing Graham hastily enter and leave the store, followed Berry’s car, and made an investigatory stop ordering the pair to wait while he found out what happened in the store. Berry tried to explain that his friend was having an insulin reaction, but Officer Connor was not convinced. When Connor returned to his patrol car to call for backup, Graham got out of the car, ran around it twice and sat down on the curb, where he passed out. When additional police officers arrived as …show more content…

First, it substantially limits citizens’ Fourth Amendment right to personal security. “The constitutional lodestar for understanding the Fourth Amendment is not an ad hoc reasonableness standard; rather, the central meaning of the Fourth Amendment is distrust of police power and discretion.” However, many courts give strong deference to the judgement of police officers and judicial scrutiny makes it impermissible to second-guess police officer’s split second judgments. “Were courts to consider the historical distrust of police power when reviewing reasonable force claims, one would expect less deference to police judgment and more concern for an individual’s interest in personal security.” The Fourth Amendment was intended to protect citizens from governmental abuses and yet the factors put forth by Graham are far more protective of law enforcement

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