Читать книгу Force Decisions. A Citizen's Guide to Understanding How Police Determine Appropriate Use of Force онлайн

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Crazy guy runs and leaves a citizen’s yard because the citizen yelled. Fine. Crazy guy then slaughters a few people at the neighbor’s house: No liability or responsibility to the citizen.

The officer has to think of consequences—crazy, running guy might launch himself in front of a bus. Or hurt someone else. Or be wanted for a previous crime. Or desperately need psychiatric meds.

This is just an example, but the officer will respond to clues inherent in the scenario. Most people don’t run at the approach of an officer, hence it’s reasonable to believe that if someone runs, there is a reason. The subject might have a mental stability issue, in which case the officer may need to get medical help. Or the runner may have a warrant out for his arrest (no one wants to be the officer/agency who let a wanted felon go because they didn’t take the time to check for warrants). It may be because he has weapons or drugs on him that he is afraid they will find…

So the officer chases, and it is reasonable. Furthermore, if he wants to do the job, he has no choice. Many of the disconnects between police and citizen perceptions of force incidents center here. The citizen asks if the force was really necessary.