A tragic police shooting in Washington seems to have been justified
Tom Rogan
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Police misconduct represents a betrayal of public service made additionally severe by the coercive power of law police officers possess. Where, as with George Floyd’s killing, police officers use unreasonable force, they should face the full force of the law. That said, a functioning society requires that police officers effectively be able to intercede against criminality.
As of Tuesday in Washington, D.C., motor vehicle thefts are up a staggering 108% from this point in 2022. There have been 1,616 reported motor vehicle thefts this year. Even if Council of the District of Columbia members such as Charles Allen and Brianne Nadeau prefer to give criminals free reign, most Washington residents expect the police to counter criminality robustly. Unfortunately, the nature of policing is that very bad situations sometimes develop.
CRIME IS JUST A BASIC CITY EXPERIENCE IN SAN FRANCISCO
If, for example, a police officer is trapped inside a moving vehicle as a suspect attempts to escape, that officer faces a credible and imminent threat to his or her life. The use of deadly force in such circumstances can be reasonable. A full investigation is obviously needed to ascertain whether the use of force was reasonable. But the prima facie circumstances support an officer’s use of deadly force. I note this point of law in relation to the controversy surrounding the recent and tragic killing of 17-year-old Dalaneo Martin.
Martin was found asleep by Metropolitan Police Department officers inside a stolen vehicle on March 17. Police say the car’s ignition was on. Due to the car’s location, officers called for the United States Park Police to take the lead. When U.S. Park Police officers attempted to remove Martin, he drove off with an officer inside the back of the car. U.S. Park Police say that another officer was dragged by the car as Martin attempted to escape. The officer trapped in the car then shot Martin multiple times, killing him.
The first point to note is that a 17-year-old is dead. Martin has a son who will now grow up without his father. That’s a tragedy. His family is understandably angry and distressed. Still, the early evidence does not support the accusation by the Martin family’s lawyer and others of police misconduct.
As NBC 4 Washington reported, the family lawyer, Andrew O. Clarke, used a recent vigil to decry the use of force.
“Six shots to the back — how can you explain that?” Clarke angrily asked. Martin’s mother had her own questions, “Why wasn’t a Taser deployed? Why was the officer in the back of his car? Why was [Martin] shot in a nonthreatening position? Why haven’t involved officers’ names been released?”
Martin’s family members have every right to ask how and why their loved one died. The problem here is that their questions can possibly, and even likely on the evidence publicly available thus far, be answered without indicating police misconduct.
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Consider that the officer may have been in the back of the car in an attempt to help other officers remove Martin from the driver’s seat. The use of a Taser might not have been a reasonable choice for the officer in the car because Tasers sometimes do not subdue a suspect and the car’s movement posed an imminent threat to the officer’s life. The firing of multiple shots may have been reasonable because the back door may have been open and the officer needed to bring the car to a stop as quickly as possible. Jumping out of the car may not have been possible or safe. If the car gained speed or crashed uncontrollably, both Martin’s and the officer’s life would have been at risk.
Top line: The early evidence in terms of Martin’s driving off of the car with an officer in tow and apparent disregard for the officer dragged by the car gave the officer in tow reasonable fear for his or her life. Or at least that is a distinct possibility. A 17-year-old is dead. It’s a terrible situation. It’s a tragedy for Martin’s family and friends. There may be police misconduct here, which is why a full internal affairs investigation is standard practice and is now underway. But we should be wary of publicly shaming officers whose only crime may have been to do their jobs in terrible circumstances.