If a police officer tells you to stop and you run..........?

trooper3316

The right to shoot is not automatic. The US Supreme Court decided that issue in 1985, the case is Tennessee v. Garner.

You can not shoot a fleeing suspect, unless you can articulate allowing him to escape will create a dangerous situation for the public.

For the person that just gave a "thumbs down", I suggest you do a search of Tennessee v. Garner. You will see this answer is correct.

http://supreme.justia.com/us/471/1/case.html

fasteddy999

Yes they can and at the very least you are going to get an a-- kickin' when they catch you because police officers don't like to chase people.

Nubian King

Legally no, does it happen yes. Police have to make split second decisions that can result in life or death. A situation like this an officer will normally not shoot there are laws about that. typically an officer will not shoot a person in the back. You may however get tased.

ahsoasho2u2

Tennessee v Gardner 471 US 1, 105 S Ct 1694, 85 L.Ed 2d 1 (1985)
" While we agree that burglary is a serious crime, we cannot agree that it is so dangerous as automatically to justify the use of deadly force.The FBI classifies burglary as a "property" rather then a "violent" crime. Although the armed burglar would present a different situation, the fact that an unarmed suspect has broken into a dwelling at night does not automatically mean he is physically dangerous. This case demonstrates as much." In fact, the available statistics demonstrate that burglaries only rarely involve physical violence. During the 10- year period from 1973- 1982, only 3.8% of all burglaries involved violent crime.

evilattorney

They can. That's not to say that the shooting is justified or that they will not be prosecuted. However, courts and juries tend to give police the benefit of the doubt in many cases.

Scullycj

Hell Ya, Double tap to the head....

No but If you had something I don't blame them.

Tim

they can but they would be lying and they would then have to plant a weapon on you in order to back up their story so if it went to court i doubt you would get charged with anything unless he had evedence

El Scott

No. That would not be justified use of force.

curious

I believe you have to have a weapon, or the Officer has to believe you have a weapon and feel threatened, but no, just in general, they can't just shoot you.

Masonic Knight

If you are a fleeing felon and the officer can articulate why you needed to be stopped to protect life etc..Then they can shoot even if they dont see a gun.

fit_o_rage

They can not shoot you if you are really fast, and you better be really fast because they have dogs that will chase you and when the dogs get you, you will have wished that the cops shot you!

floridaman39us

If a police officer tells you to stop, you better stop. You would be a fool to run from a police officer.

j alford

they will probly chase you first if they dont feel your a threat to their life i hate cops and some of them are crazy as hell but no one wants to kill anyone for no reason

John G

Sure. So don't run....what you got to hide? A gun?