Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.1 (Tek) 9/26/83; site shark.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!cbosgd!ihnp4!zehntel!zinfandel!tektronix!orca!shark!hutch From: hutch@shark.UUCP (Stephen Hutchison) Newsgroups: net.flame,net.politics Subject: Re: Lethal force used by police Message-ID: <1179@shark.UUCP> Date: Wed, 5-Dec-84 02:17:47 EST Article-I.D.: shark.1179 Posted: Wed Dec 5 02:17:47 1984 Date-Received: Thu, 6-Dec-84 07:41:34 EST References: <3@vax2.fluke.UUCP> <259@spp2.UUCP> <365@whuxl.UUCP> <494@uwmacc.UUCP> <378@whuxl.UUCP>, <330@amdcad.UUCP> Organization: Tektronix, Wilsonville OR Lines: 34 Xref: watmath net.flame:7108 net.politics:6092| > Where? In at least two of the towns I have lived in there have been | > tragic deaths because policemen shot people who were harmless. In | > Dunedin, Florida a 14 year old boy was killed in a schoolyard-- | > policemen thought he might be robbing something and ordered him to | > freeze. The boy panicked and ran-- the policeman shot and killed him. | | I do not believe the police are authorized to use deadly force to stop | a suspect from running away. Sounds like these policemen weren't | properly trained. | Phil Ngai Unfortunately the police ARE authorized to shoot you if you run away from them. The practice is defended under the heading of shooting at a fleeing (suspected) felon. If you run away then you are clearly guilty. :-( All they have to do is warn you ONCE. To put this in proper perspective, most police don't ever draw their weapons except at the firing range. I suspect there is some kind of a neighborhood/district pattern to that raw statistic, where police in certain beats use their guns a lot and the rest hardly ever have to. This information comes from a series of articles in the Oregonian newspaper about two years ago. It was an unpleasant surprise to learn that the fleeing-felon rules had been so broadly interpreted at a federal court level. They also claimed that the policy about police shooting fleeing suspects is a very local thing, and what is permitted in one area might get the officer fired in the next. Hutch