ipl-logo

Why Is Tennessee V. Garner Important

541 Words3 Pages

Tennessee v. Garner Assignment Tennessee v. Garner is a case where police used deadly force. This is a great case to examine when deadly force should or should not be used. The Fourth Amendments states, the right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures. This right should not be violated. “Seizure under the fourth amendment would only be reasonable if the suspect posed a threat to safety of police officers or the community at large” Tennessee v. Garner (1985.) In the case of Tennessee v. Garner, there were only two involved, Officer Elton Hymon and Mr. Edward Garner. On the October 3, 1974 Officer Hymon and Wright were sent by dispatch to answer a prowler inside the house call. While Officer …show more content…

Officer Hymon used deadly force to stop Mr. Garner. In Tennessee, Office Hymon was “acting under the authority of a Tennessee

statue and pursuant to Police Department policy. This policy states, if after notice of the intention to arrest the defendant, he either flee or forcibly resist, the officer may use all the necessary means to effect the arrest" JUSTIA US Supreme Court Tennessee v. Garner 471 U.S. 1 (1985). Mr. Garner’s father thought the use of deadly force was wrong. However “the Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit affirmed with regard to Hymon, finding that he had acted in good faith reliance on the Tennessee statute, and was therefore within the scope of his qualified immunity.” (JUSTIA US Supreme Court) In conclusion of the case a 6-3 decision, it was ruled that “The Tennessee statute was unconstitutional as far as it allowed deadly force to prevent the escape of an unarmed fleeing felon.” Tennessee v. Garner (1985.) Tennessee’s original law for the use of deadly force was unconstitutional. After the verdict was read on this case this law changed, there was more of a restriction on law enforcement using deadly force. NCRJS

Show More
Related
227 Words | 1 Pages

Officer Hymon used his flashlight and could tell that Garner was unarmed. Officer Hymon then told Garner to stop but Garner started to climb the chain link fence. That 's when Officer Hymon shot and killed Garner. A purse and ten dollars were found in Garner 's possession from the house. Hymon admitted in court that Garner appeared to be unarmed.

Read More
808 Words | 4 Pages

1. Facts: “Tennessee vs. Garner” - the decision of the Supreme Court of the USA in 1985 (471 US (1985), which deals with the application of the Fourth Amendment to the US Constitution . According to this decision, a police officer pursuing a suspect should not endanger life-saving escape, if the fugitive does not pose a threat to the life and health of others and / or the policeman himself. October 3, 1974 around 22:45 the officers police Memphis Lesli Rayt and Elton Haimon were on call on a burglary. Haimon walked around the house, while Wright maintained contact with the police station with the help of a walkie-talkie.

Read More
209 Words | 1 Pages

608 F. 3D 614 (9th Cir. No. 08-55662, files 6/18/10, withdrawn and amended, 11/30/10) in a 42 U.S.C section 1983 action based on defendants-officer 's use of a taser on plaintiff at a traffic stop, denial of summary judgment based on qualified immunity is affirmed where, viewing the circumstances in the light most favorable to plaintiff, defendant 's use of the taser was unconstitutionally excessive force and a violation of plaintiff 's clearly established rights.  Police must have reasonable grounds to use a taser.  Officer Brian McPherson used excessive force when on July 24, 2005, he deployed his X26 taser in dart mode to apprehend Carl Bryan for a seatbelt infraction, where Bryan was obviously and noticeably unarmed (he was wearing

Read More
563 Words | 3 Pages

Argumentative Essay-Rough Draft On July 17, 2014, Eric Garner was put into an against policy chokehold by Daniel Pantaleo of the NYPD. An hour later, he died from his injuries. On December 3, a grand jury decided not to indict Daniel Pantaleo. Regardless of there being video proof, the grand jury decided that there was not enough evidence to indict him.

Read More
260 Words | 2 Pages

In the case of Tennessee vs Garner 471 US 1 1985 Edward Garner a 15 year old young man broke into a house, he was found hiding outside in the backyard by responding Officer Elton Hymen. Gardner made a fatal decision to flee even after being ordered by the police to stop, Garner tried to climb a six foot fence at that point officer Hymen shot and killed Garner. In this case the U.S. Supreme Court declared the “Fleeing Felon Doctrine” unconstitutional in that it violated the Fourth Amendment in that it was an unreasonable seizure. In Justice White delivery of the Courts opinion they “conclude that such force may not be used unless it is necessary to prevent the escape and the officer has probable cause to believe that the suspect poses a significant

Read More
816 Words | 4 Pages

The City of Houston has experienced an outbreak of such police-involved shootings of unarmed individuals, particularly African-Americans. This happens so often that they are defacto City policy. Nonetheless, the City of Houston has not done anything to address the uncontrollable shooting of unarmed individuals by its officers. And, like Officer Castro, the City has not been held accountable for its actions or inactions dealing with the shooting of unarmed individuals, like Baker, by its officers, like Castro. This action, brought under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, which states that, “Every person who, under color of any statute, ordinance, regulation, custom, or usage, of any State or Territory or the District of Columbia, subjects, or causes to be subjected, any citizen of the United States or other person within the jurisdiction thereof to the deprivation of any rights, privileges, or immunities secured by the Constitution and laws, shall be liable to the party injured in an action at law, suit in equity, or other proper proceeding for redress, except that in any action brought against a judicial officer for an act or omission taken in such officer’s judicial capacity, injunctive relief shall not be granted unless a declaratory decree was violated or declaratory relief was unavailable.

Read More
148 Words | 1 Pages

The police actions were unjustifiable and unwarranted in this situation. In the court care of Tennessee v. Garner, the Supreme Court ruled that, “deadly force may not be used unless there is a reasonable cause to believe there is a significant threat of death or serious physical injury to the officer or others exists” (Hendrix, 2013, page 194). The use of physical force should not be used in the manner of vindictiveness, retaliation, or punishment purposes. This display of action is unprofessional and is against the code of conduct. The suspect’s actions of getting out of her vehicle warranted the use of force, because she approached the officer in a threating manner.

Read More
781 Words | 4 Pages

Garner. In this 1985 case, the court held that the use of excessive force during an arrest is unlawful unless the Fourth Amendment's reasonable person standard can be used to infer that there is “probable cause to believe the subject poses a significant threat of death or serious physical injury to the officer or others' ' (Tennessee v. Gitter). This holding is incredibly crucial to the case of Dethorne Graham considering he was unarmed. The events leading up to Graham’s arrest are unclear however they present as the following. Graham was said to be resisting arrest, to which the officers responded by slamming Graham's head into his friend's car, from which he sustained head and shoulder industries—which is a clear show of excessive force.

Read More
649 Words | 3 Pages

The chief was particularly disturbed by the fact that a police sergeant was at the scene and stood by doing nothing to stop the assault on Roy King. The law at the time allowed for the use of force on suspects who refused to comply with orders to surrender after a crime. The principle of use of reasonable force to restrain a suspect established in Graham v Connor (1989) provided viable legal defense for the use of such force after a car chase and an attempt by the suspect to flee on foot even after surrendering to the police. The Mayor of California at the time also expressed the same sentiments expressing anger over the excessive use of force against the suspect as a violation of his Fourth Amendment

Read More
1353 Words | 6 Pages

The four officers were brought to court and tried on charges of assault. During the trial, an officer argued that Rodney King resisted arrest, and that they believed King was under the influence of Phencyclidine (PCP) which caused him to be very aggressive and violent toward the officers. When the police thought King was reaching for a weapon near his waistband, they thought the use of force would be “necessary”. The officers did not handcuff King until he lied still.

Read More
637 Words | 3 Pages

His neighbor appears to be intoxicated and becomes violent when the officer reaches for his handcuffs. He takes a swing at the officer and then attempts his escape. Thirty years prior, the officer would have had the option to draw his weapon and fire or risk a dangerous car chase. Thankfully, he has a Taser gun on his belt. He is able to draw, fire, and apprehend the subject with little effort and no loss of life.

Read More
738 Words | 3 Pages

Minnesota Duluth Police Department: The DPD suggests that use of deadly force is justified in the following scenarios: to keep peace officers or others, safe from death or great bodily harm, to make an arrest of someone who is believed to have committed a felony and use or threatened deadly force, or to make an arrest of someone who is attempting to commit a felony and the officer believes the person may use deadly force if he/she is not captured. Furthermore, use of deathly force towards a moving vehicle is only reasonably used when there is no way to avoid the threat of a vehicle or deadly force coming from the vehicle with other means. Minneapolis Police Department: The MPD has the same three scenarios of when to use deadly force, which include: to keep peace officers safe, or others; safe from death or great bodily harm; to make an arrest of someone who is believed to have committed a felony and use or threatened deadly force; or to make an arrest of someone who is attempting to commit a felony and the officer believes the person may use deadly force if not captured. In their policy, MPD goes on to talk about the Tennessee vs Garner case which states that: warning shots should not be fired, the use of several objects may constitute use of deadly force, the policy does not prevent officers

Read More
892 Words | 4 Pages

On January 1st 2009 Officer Johannes Mehserle shot and killed an innocent man. Oscar Grant was just getting off of the train from a previous New Year's party with a group of his friends. While on the train, one rider had reported that a fight broke out onboard. When Grant and his friends made it to the station, they were taken custody. That is when Officer Mehserle intentionally shot and killed Oscar Grant.

Read More
587 Words | 3 Pages

Stop question and frisk is defined as the practice "in which police officer who is suspicious of an individual detains the person and runs his hands lightly over the suspect 's outer garments to determinate if the person is carrying a concealed weapon" (Free Dictionary). Police officers are only allowed to search for weapons while patting down the individual, if the officer does not feel any weapon, the search has to stop and the police are not allowed to search into the individual 's pocket. Stop question and frisk is based on the court ruling of Terry v. Ohio, in this case the supreme court held that when a police officer stops a suspects and frisk him without probable cause the fourth Amendment prohibition on unreasonable searches and seizures is not violated, if the police officer has reasonable suspicious that the person he stop has done, is doing or is about to commit a crime

Read More
1683 Words | 7 Pages

For decades now, the controversy over deadly force has continued to show up in the news when police officers have acted in a manner that some citizens find just while others deem completely unfair. Many lawsuits stemming from shootings and crimes have found their way to local courts or the Supreme Court to deal with this issue. A portion of the U.S. population finds deadly force unnecessary when non-lethal weapons such as pepper spray or batons just as easily subdue the criminal. In addition, these citizens argue that officers might be liable for cases filed against them if they use excess force on people that seem suspicious but have not actually committed a crime. On the other hand, the opposing argument in favor of deadly force states that

Read More

More about Why Is Tennessee V. Garner Important

Related Topics

Open Document