Capitol Report
By State Representative, Leon D. Young
Leon D. Young
Deplorably, the incidences of fatal police involved shootings continue to spiral. Last week, the nation was rocked, yet again, by the occurrences of two more deadly shootings of Black men at the hands of law enforcement. This begs the rather obvious question: What factor accounts for this alarming incidence of fatal police shootings of minorities?
In truth, there are any number of possible factors that play a role in these tragic occurrences.
But clearly, one factor that is either high, or tops that list, is adequate training. The recent shooting of 43-year-old Keith Lamont Scott by a police officer in Charlotte, North Carolina may offer some new insights on this particular subject and the proper use of deadly force.
The Charlotte-Mecklenburg police chief Kerr Putney (who is Black) now finds himself in the proverbial eye of the storm, following the shooting death of Keith Lamont Scott.
However, a year earlier in an intriguing interview, Chief Kerr offered his own nuanced thoughts about the use of deadly force by police officers. Chief Putney went on record as having said:
“Lethal force should only be used by police in absolute emergencies and cannot be justified — morally, legally, or otherwise — in situations where an officer is not in truly imminent danger.” “Some officers are going to think, ‘If my life is in danger, I can use lethal force.’
But the law does not quite say it that way,” he said. “It has to be an imminent threat — and ‘imminent threat’ does not mean you’re anticipating what might happen. It has to be happening now, as in, ‘It’s about to go down, so I must react.’ The way we teach our people, you have to truly be in a position to lose your life — not, you’re afraid it could happen.”
Admittedly, Chief Kerr’s explanation was not an epiphany to me being a former police officer. However, the thought-process of most officers regarding the proper use of dead force seems rather different in the real world.
As we have seen on countless occasions that involve loss of life by police, the mere utterance that the officer ‘feared for his life,’ generally serves to exonerate that officer from criminal prosecution in the vast majority of cases.
During that same interview, Chief Putney presented some additional insights on this subject: “… Fear plays a critical role in determining how these kinds of confrontations unfold.
In ambiguous, fast-moving situations “You have this natural distrust that has accumulated, and it’s all brought to bear at that critical instant. … You layer on what’s going on nationally, and everything else, and people start expecting something volatile to happen.”
It remains to be seen whether the Black police officer who killed Mr. Scott will be formally charged in the shooting. After all, there is great disagreement as to whether the victim had a gun.
The police allege that Mr. Scott had a weapon, while his wife and family claim that he didn’t. If a gun was present, this would great bolster the officer’s assertion that he faced grave danger and was justified in using lethal force.
With that being said, the importance of properly training police officers in what actually constitutes an imminent, deadly threat cannot be overstated. As Chief Putney so succinctly stated: “Imminent threat’ does not mean you’re anticipating what might happen. It has to be happening now.”
Hence, police officers must be better trained in realizing the difference.