A federal appellate court has ruled that a sheriff’s deputy was justified in shooting dead the driver of a car heading toward him as a weapon, even though the deputy deliberately stepped into the vehicle’s path and stayed there when he had the opportunity to move aside. The 10th circuit Court of Appeals said the...Read More
The U.S. Supreme Court recently decided a case involving fatal shots fired at a moving vehicle that provides an important reminder to officers about thoroughly articulating use of force and offers help to police lawyers in arguing qualified immunity cases, according to two prominent law enforcement attorneys who are also Force Science instructors. For officers...Read More
A growing number of agencies are specifying in policy that moving motor vehicles per se should no longer be considered deadly threats and that officers should not use deadly force to protect themselves or others from vehicular attack. Firing is permitted only when someone inside a vehicle is posing an immediate lethal threat with some...Read More
A new Supreme Court decision has been added to the ongoing controversy in law enforcement circles about whether officers should be permitted by policy to shoot at moving vehicles. Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that officers were justified in firing fatal rounds at a driver to end a dangerous high-speed chase. Further, the...Read More
An officer who shot a suspect who had him trapped inside a car that was gathering speed discovered that his inability to accurately estimate measurements afterward became an issue when the case got to an appellate court. The bizarre situation began about 0200 one Friday when two Anaheim (CA) PD officers narrowly missed colliding with...Read More
Note: The staff at the Force Science Institute of late has noticed “a definite uptick” in the number of inquiries being received regarding shooting at moving vehicles, according to operations vice president Scott Buhrmaster. From their various field locations, some Force Science instructors are reporting a similar increase as well. FSI is in the preliminary...Read More
“Looming” looms large in review board decision The young suspect behind the wheel of the stolen Saturn tried his best to lose the two city detectives in hot pursuit behind him, but not only did he fail to get away, he got shot in the process. And that caused a potential problem as the officers...Read More
Skepticism often arises when officers shoot at vehicles they claim were about to run them over. Questions range from “Why didn’t the cop just jump out of the way?” to “How come his estimate of the car’s speed is so much higher than that of other witnesses at the scene?” The answers may lie with...Read More
Two recent federal court rulings supporting officers’ decision-making in force encounters are reported in the latest “Case Notes and Publications” email from Americans for Effective Law Enforcement, the nonprofit organization that monitors and assists with litigation of interest to LEOs and their agencies. 1. In Lewis v. City of West Palm Beach, et al., 5...Read More
The first time Robert Murtha fired his gun on duty was to kill a rabid skunk. The next time, he was shooting to stop another kind of skunk, some would say, a criminal fugitive and career drug dealer who Murtha claimed was trying to run him down with a car. But that time it was...Read More