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From: ark@alice.UUCP (Andrew Koenig)
Newsgroups: net.flame,net.politics
Subject: Re: Lethal force used by police
Message-ID: <3128@alice.UUCP>
Date: Sat, 1-Dec-84 11:34:40 EST
Article-I.D.: alice.3128
Posted: Sat Dec  1 11:34:40 1984
Date-Received: Sun, 2-Dec-84 04:16:39 EST
References: <378@whuxl.UUCP>
Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories, Murray Hill
Lines: 22

Tim Sevener recounts a story of a policeman who shot and killed
what he thought was a fleeing felon and turned out to be an
unarmed 14-year-old boy.

I seem to recall that this very issue is up before the US Supreme Court
this session.  At issue is the "fleeing felon" law in Tennesee, which
says that police may use any means necessary to effect the arrest
of a suspected felon, including shooting one who is running away.

Lest you think these laws are universal: I believe that in New York
City, a place where it is harder to be a cop than most of Tennesee,
there are much stricter constraints on when police may use their
weapons.  This information is a number of years old, but I don't
think things have changed much.  The typical NY cop carries a revolver
and a nightstick. The stick is the weapon of choice in almost all circumstances.
The only time a NY cop may fire a gun at someone else is if that
person has a deadly weapon and is about to use it.  In other words,
if a criminal has a gun, the cop can't shoot him unless the criminal
first points his gun at the cop.

Every time a NY cop fires a gun, the incident goes before a panel
called the Firearms Discharge Review Board.