Tennessee Vs Garner Case Study

In the past few days another unarmed black male was shot and killed by a white officer. His name was Terrance Crutcher. Betty Shelby, the white officer identified by police as the one who shot Crutcher, was not the only officer to draw a weapon on him. With three officers standing in a line behind Terence Crutcher and at least one more officer standing several feet behind them, the video shows, his body falls to the pavement. The officer 's attorney says she was afraid Crutcher was reaching for a weapon when she opened fire.

Coker V. Georgia is a supreme court case that took place in 1977. Ehrlich Anthony Coker also known as Coker, was already serving multiple life sentences for rape, murder, assault, and kidnapping. (https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/433/584/case.html) But Coker escaped through the roof of a building where a meeting was being held on September 2. (https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/433/584/case.html).

On October 3, 1974, Memphis police officers Leslie Wright and Elton Hymon were called to a burglary. Officer Hymon went to the back of the house and saw someone running away. That person running away was 15 year old Edward Garner. Garner approached a chain link fence. He stopped.

CNN reported on August 1, 2014 that 43-year-old Eric Garner died on July 17 after being confronted by police on Staten Island for allegedly selling cigarettes illegally. As police officers approached Garner he raised both hands in the air and told the officers not to touch him. Moments later, a video recording shows an officer grabbing the 350-pound man from behind in a choke hold and wrestled him to the ground, rolling him onto his stomach. CNN News also reports that the video has Eric crying repeatedly that he could not breathe until his last gasp. Evidence and Applicable Laws Julie Bolcer, a representative of the NY medical examiner 's office confirmed that the cause of death was "compression of neck (choke hold), compression of chest and prone positioning during physical restraint by police.

His complaint alleged that the shooting violated Garner’s Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Eighth, and Fourteenth Amendment rights under the United States Constitution. Officer Hymon was named a defendant, along with the Police Department, and the Mayor as well as the city of Memphis. After a bench trial the District Court dismissed the claims against the Mayor and the Director, because of a lack of evidence. The court concluded that Hymon’s actions were constitutional, because they where authorized by the Tennessee statute. The court said that Hymon had exercised his only reasonable and practicable means of preventing Garner’s

Tulsa police officer, Betty Shelby, shot an unarmed black man after his car was found abandoned in the middle of the road. Federal, State, and local authorities have launched investigations into the officer shooting. Tiffany Crutcher, the victim 's twin sister, has urged prosecutors to press charges immediately. Terence Crutcher was shot and killed after he ignored direct orders from the officers confronting him, and as officers thought he was reaching for a weapon. There was no weapon found on him, or in his vehicle.

A few moments later, Graham and Berry were stopped by Officer Connor in order to perform an investigative search on them. While Connor returned to his patrol car in order to call for backup, Graham got out of Berry’s car, ran around it twice, and passed out while he sat down on the curb. When backup came, one of the officers cuffed Graham while Berry pleaded officers to consider his health. The officers ignored the situation about his health and continued to use force on Graham as they shoved him into the police car. Berry tried to hand Graham some orange juice but the officers refused to let him have it.

The controversial debate regarding the excessive use of force that has at many times been implemented is becoming more and more frequent in the news. With the help of the following articles, What we didn’t know before the James Forcillo Trial by Wendy Gillis, Toronto cop James Forcillo granted bail in fatal TTC shooting by City News, Sammy Yatim Streetcar Shooting: Toronto Police Investigation Leaves Unanswered Questions by, The Huffington Post, Toronto cops convicted and accused of bad behavior may hurt public trust: critics by, Mark Carcasole and Why James Forcillo was charged with murder in the Yatim shooting by CBC News, I am going to prove my point. It is never okay for a police officer to shoot to kill. They are supposed to shoot,

Williams vs. North Carolina (1942) The Williams v. North Carolina case is a Supreme Court case in which the court decided that the federal government determines divorce and marriage statuses between state lines. It casted doubt over the validity of thousands of interstate divorces. Mr. Williams and Ms. Hendrix, who were both married, moved to Nevada for six weeks to become citizens of the state, and filed for divorce from their spouses. Their spouses, Carrie Wyke and Thomas Hendrix, were unaware that the divorces were being filed.

Officer Michael Slager did use deadly force, but it was not necessary. Walter Scott was fleeing, however, he did not possess a weapon and was not facing the officer or anybody else. According to the video taken by a bystander, Scott never had the officer’s stun gun and was shot at nearly eight times before he finally fell to the ground dead. Officer Michael Slager reported on his radio minutes after the shooting, Shots fired in the subject is down.

If you feel that your life is in danger you have the right to kill the person even if you could have gotten away. It does not matter if the person has a weapon or not. It is simply a perceived threat. George Zimmerman was found not guilty and used “Stand your Ground Law” to get off. The killing of Trayvon Martin caused many people to take another look at the law.

Pantaleo had Garner in a chokehold and knocked him out, while unconscious other police officers got on top of him during the restraint, compressing his chest even more. Officers came to Garner with suspicion of Garner selling cigarettes, though Garner expressed that he was doing no such thing. When the officer moved in to arrest him, Garner swiped his hand away. At that time, Pantaleo put his arm around Garner’s neck and pulled him down to the ground. After choking him for several seconds, other police officers went to restrain Garner.

Deadly force is more of a last resort, or is used when all else fails. Deadly force should be used only in the occasion that an officer’s life or the life of another individual is in danger. Courts have ruled that deadly force may be used under two main criteria, to prevent the escape of a suspect, and that the officer has probable cause of possible serious threat of death/injury to another individual. If a felon is fleeing deadly force is only justified if there is reason to believe serous injury or death to the public or an officer may occur. In cases where a suspect has some sort of deadly weapon officers may use deadly for if the suspect is attempting to cause harm and the use of force is justifiable.

The statement “Black Lives Matter”, in my opinion, is not to say other lives do not matter but to draw attention to all the senseless black lives being taken. Outraged and seriously concerned for my life, I have to be aware of my own surrounding because I am an African American. There does not seem to be any urgency in trying to solve what has become an epidemic. Day-by-day, there are incidents of blacks being killed, and it’s getting worst. Black lives are being taken by police officers and by citizens who call themselves vigilantes.

This idea came up in a major Supreme Court case in 1985 called Tennessee v. Garner where the judges questioned the constitutionality of shooting at an unarmed suspect. In this case, a police officer from Memphis came out to a neighborhood at night to investigate a complaint of a possible burglary. Upon arrival at the house in question, the officer heard a noise and saw a person trying to escape over the fence. When the suspect did not stop after a warning from the officer, the policeman shot and killed the suspect. After a long series of trials, the previous statute of Tennessee was overturned and replaced with a new one that included a new phrase.