“Police officers should be trained to use the least amount of force that could be effective. They should always prefer the least amount of force. There should be no doubt about that,” University of Richmond law professor John Preis said on Friday. “But the reason that these cases are hard is because they [police officers] have to make split second decisions.”
The issue has came into focus again following the February 4 trial of Chicago police officer Craig Taylor, who was cleared in the shooting death of 95-year-old Second World War veteran John Wrana at a nursing home in July 2013.
Prosecutors said Wrana threatened several officers with a knife once they arrived at the location and refused to drop it when told so. A police officer tried to tase Wrana but missed, after which Taylor shot Wrana five times.
According to Taylor’s statement, he followed the orders of the commanding officer and feared for his life.
“It’s an unfortunate incident,” Wake Forest University Criminal Justice Program Director Kami Chavis Simmons told Sputnik. “I would want officers to use the least amount of force possible, but that would still allow them to protect themselves and the rest of society.”
Simmons also said that beanbags are considered less than lethal force, and in many cases police officers have been justified to use deadly force if they are confronted with a suspect with a knife.
“An obvious solution would have been to leave [Wrana] alone in the setting until he calms down or until he is able to be easily disarmed,” New York Law School professor and author of The Death of Punishment, Robert Blecker, told Sputnik.
According to Blecker, Wrana’s case shows bad police work that does not always amount to criminal behavior.
“It is perfectly consistent with saying that the police officers committed a tort, and should be held civilly liable, and the department should be held civilly liable for the death of this man,” Blecker said.
Officer Taylor and the commanding officer who gave the orders to shoot, should not be on the fast track to promotion, the expert added, and should have a stain on their record.
Cook County judge Luciano Panici cleared Taylor of the death charge on the basis that there was no evidence of intentional murder or criminal wrongdoing.
