WHEN MAY DEADLY FORCE BE USED?

If you read the comments on my post POLICE SHOOTING OF AN UNARMED NAKED PERSON IS JUSTIFIABLE (1-18-11), you should have noticed that my critic identified himself as ‘NoJusticeNoPeace.’ No Justice, No Peace also happens to be the slogan of poverty pimp Al Sharpton’s National Action Network. NoJusticeNoPeace actually believes the preposterous claim that Reggie Doucet was running around the street stark naked because he had given every stitch of his clothing to a cabbie as security for the cab fare.

The recent shooting of unarmed naked Reggie by LAPD officers raised questions about when cops can use deadly force.

The U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, in the case of Scott v. Henrich (9th Cir. 1994) 39 F.3d 912, spelled out the circumstances under which police officers may use deadly force:

__…police may use only such force as is objectively reasonable under the circumstances. An officer's use of deadly force is reasonable only if “the officer has probable cause to believe that the suspect poses a significant threat of death or serious physical injury to the officer or others.” All determinations of unreasonable force “must embody allowance for the fact that police officers are often forced to make split-second judgments – in circumstances that are tense, uncertain, and rapidly evolving – about the amount of force that is necessary in a particular situation."

The use of deadly force by a private citizen is also justified if he is resisting attempts by an assailant to inflict serious bodily injury or death on his person.

The use of deadly force is not dependent on whether a person is armed or unarmed, naked or clothed, drunk or sober, high on drugs or not, or mentally ill or of sound mind. When officers are forced to fight with someone who is overpowering them to the extent that he is about to inflict serious bodily injury or kill them, they have every right to protect themselves by resorting to deadly force. And when any person tries to take a cop’s gun, the officer has every right to believe that his own weapon will be used to kill him right then and there.

No police officer ever reports for duty wanting to kill anyone, unless it’s someone who has killed another cop. So to all of you second guessers who are always so quick to condemn cops whenever they resort to the use of deadly force, give it a rest!