By Robert Kittle
USC law professor and former police officer Seth Stoughton says the shooting of an unarmed man as he was running from a police officer in North Charleston shows the need for more police training on how to avoid using lethal force.
“Lethal force is only justified when the suspect presents a risk of death or great bodily harm to the officer or to a bystander,” he says. “Running away does not, except in very rare circumstances, present any imminent risk of death or great bodily harm.”
Patrolman 1st Class Michael Slager pulled over 50-year-old Walter Scott for a broken tail light. Dashcam video shows that, after the stop, Scott got out of the vehicle and ran, his family says because he didn’t want to be taken to jail for being behind on child support payments.
Slager says after he chased Scott, Scott grabbed his Taser and that’s why he shot him. But cell phone video taken by a bystander shows that Scott was running away from Slager when Slager fired eight times, hitting Scott in the back. Slager was fired from the police force and been charged with murder.
Stoughton says, “Most agencies have what’s called a use-of-force matrix, which is basically a document, a policy that says when the suspect is resisting in this way, then you can use these responses. If the suspect is running away, you can use a baton. If the suspect turns and is acting aggressive, then you can use a Taser. Exactly where you put different tools, different weapons, depends on the agency.”
He says part of the problem is that police academies across the country spend a lot of time teaching how to use force but very little on alternatives. He says 98 percent of the police academies across the country teach an average of more than 160 hours of use-of-force training to every cadet. But only 88 percent of the academies teach any kind of de-escalation or conflict resolution, and the average amount of training in that is 8 hours.
“Knowing how to disengage, knowing when a situation is appropriate for the officer to stabilize, rather than aggress. When it’s okay to step back and hold the scene steady rather than rush in and go hands-on. All of those are tactics and techniques that officers can and should be learning to try and minimize the reliance on high levels of force,” he says.
South Carolina Criminal Justice Academy spokesperson Florence McCants says the academy does teach de-escalation techniques and alternatives to using force, as well as how to use non-lethal force like a baton, joint manipulations and pressure point control.
