The video illustrates a police officer involved in a shooting incident. The law enforcer seems to be firing shots despite a clear lack of evidence of any provocation. Police interaction with the suspect can be classified as the use of force, excessive force, or deadly force. Based on these types of interactions, the video presents an excessive use of force. The actions of the police officer are reasonably expected to cause death or significant bodily injury irrespective of the intent. The most probable case law that applies in this situation is “Tennessee v Garner” 471 U.S. 1 (USSC) (1985). The case law provides insights into the use of force against a suspect that presumably is on flight.
The case law states that “The use of deadly force to stop a fleeing felon is not justified unless it is necessary to prevent the escape, and it complies with the following requirements” (Use of Force). The case law further emphasizes that the officer must have probable cause to believe that the suspect carries a substantial threat of physical injury or death to the officer or others. The video presented for analysis does not necessarily demonstrate whether the suspect carries a threat to the police or the general public. Therefore, it is difficult to justify the probable cause provision.
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Applying the fleeing felon rule, in this case, can justify the behavior of the police, as witnessed in the video. If the police have serious reasons to believe that the suspect is a threat to society, his actions are justified. As regards his choice of weapon, the case-law of Plakas v. Drinski, 19 F.3d 1143 (7th Cir. 1994), applies. In their decision, the court established that "where deadly force is otherwise justified under the Constitution, there is no constitutional duty to use non-deadly alternatives first” (Use of Force). Therefore, the police officer in the video is justified to use a gun so long as the fleeing felon rule stands.
Reference
Use of Force https://caselaw4cops.net/use_of_force/use_of_force.htm
