the use of deadly force will not only be
looked at in the court of law but also
in the court of public opinion welcome
to today's act of self-protection lesson
I'm your host John Correa today's video
comes to us from Fresno California in
the United States is an officer-involved
incident with an awful lot of behind the
scenes and we're gonna have a bunch of
lessons out of this one
today's video is brought to you by the
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there's so much information on this one
that is in the news story linked in the
description make sure you click that and
read police officers have pulled a car
over they're gonna perform a felony stop
because they're looking for suspects in
a murder the previous day they have
credible evidence that the car here is
involved in it and that the people
inside very well might be as well now
again if you go read the news story
linked in the description these people
are not involved in that but the police
officers don't know that we have audio
here let's listen in then we're gonna
see the surveillance video of the fatal
shot and then we'll learn some lessons
from there
right for a passenger
open the door step out
[Music]
so you heard the shot there but you
haven't seen it yet when we look at
surveillance video you see the perp has
jumped the fence and run off makes a
gesture and a look at the officer there
and the officer draws his firearm and
shoots one time that one shot went into
the back of the head of the fleeing perp
now they're gonna try to you know
they're gonna get him in cuffs try to
give him first aid it is not gonna work
he does not make it and if you go read
the news story come to find out he was
not involved in that murder at all and
he was unarmed at the time of this
shooting that's where this one ends boy
I got to admit the first time that I
watched this one I went poof that
doesn't look great there's an awful lot
to talk about here on this one and one
of the ways that you can get better with
your self-defense is joining us on the
act of self-protection extra Channel
where every single Friday on Jon's
briefs we post a discussion with a board
certified attorney of the legal
principles of self-defense this one's
definitely gonna show up probably take
me a few weeks to get to it but come
over there and you can learn more about
the legal side of self-defense let's
think about lessons out of this one
not only for officers but for private
citizens as well so first of all I want
to recognize that the outcome here is
terrible I don't think it was positive
for anyone clearly the young man lost
his life terrible for him terrible for
his family terrible for his community
but also terrible for the officer who
likely won't work in law enforcement
anymore because of the public outlet you
know outcry and backlash from this so so
this is a negative outcome all the way
negative for the police department
negative for the city of Fresno this is
never how we want things to come out and
I guarantee you this officer didn't come
to work that day looking for an
opportunity to have his career ended and
to have somebody who was not involved in
a murder and their life that day at the
end of his gun so we got to recognize
that negative outcomes like this what
we're trying to avoid but we have to
think about what are the things that are
going through our mind in the moment and
is what we do objectively reasonable the
big deal here we got to ask his
objective reasonableness from the
standard of what did the officer know so
this is a felony stop he's heard it on
the radio
these are suspects from a murder that
he's you know that was committed
yesterday in Fresno so that's what he's
operating under and the officer brings
this kid back here
who ends up being 16 years old and says
okay man just get on your knees whatever
and then this kid runs off now I will
say for those of us not in law
enforcement gosh man
don't fight cops on the roadside let the
lawyers work it out because this running
is what put him in danger in this
instance and and the officer here felony
stop guys fleeing murder suspect those
kinds of things that gives him all these
cues that bad things are coming now he's
gonna go and make a foot pursuit I
certainly think for my law enforcement
friends Zombieland
rule number one cardio incredibly
important you gotta have solid cardio
but I think for non-sworn as well
understanding that you may have to do
some stuff and run pretty far or have a
long protracted fight I think is
important now then given everything
that's going on here you heard the fact
that they gave multiple commands get on
the ground show me your hands those
kinds of things and this guy continues
to resist and again in a felony stop so
when we talk about objective
reasonableness we're talking about you
know a court cases like Tennessee versus
garner and Graham versus Connor
that say that an officer can only use
deadly force when when he or she
reasonably fears a threat to themselves
a deadly threat to themselves or to
someone else or to the community so do
we have that here well that's what we're
really gonna have to look at but
understanding the fact that it's it's a
reasonable officer put in their position
based on the information that they had
in the moment where we're gonna see that
now what's the information he had what
we're gonna see here first of all is
that this guy jumps the fence and this
fence is for a daycare now I have not
been able to determine via the you know
all the news stories whether that
daycare was occupied at the time but
given the fact that there's a bus out
front and all those kinds of things is
it reasonable to think that this isn't
occupied daycare I certainly think it is
again given the rest of the totality of
the circumstances does the officer look
and say gosh this guy is running towards
where there are lots of innocents who
are high-value who are very vulnerable
yes now then we want to also take a look
at what did the officers see when he
wanted to shoot when he decided to make
the shot here this officer is running he
has a gun in hand that's okay now notice
here that the perp looks back at him and
he's making with his left hand a gesture
towards his waistband now you and I from
a different angle you and I knowing at
the end that
he's unarmed say wait a minute he's just
trying to pull his pants up and he's in
full flight but could the officers see
that no all he sees is the guy looking
back at him and then using his left hand
to move towards his waistband towards
his pockets towards where the danger is
the danger is always from the hands and
from the waist and that's what the
officer sees here so given the totality
of the circumstances he decides this guy
is a deadly threat to the kids maybe to
myself as well and so he draws his
firearm and uses it is that objectively
reasonable I think it is I don't think
they're going to convict him for sure
though in civil court there might be
something different now then let's think
about the marksmanship problem here
about a second has gone by so the
officer decides I'm gonna shoot drives
his gun out gets a good sight picture
presses the trigger now did he mean to
hit him in the back of the head I don't
know I haven't been able to interview
the officer my guess is no this guy is
quartering away from him and he is
running at full tilt my guess is the
officer pressed that shot and was trying
to get a center mass hit and just at
that last moment got it maybe a little
bit of pre-ignition push and because of
that the shot went high now that said
that's why perhaps that we aim at that
center mouse because it gives us more
margin for effectively stopping the
threat but again what does the officer
seeing in that moment he's still seeing
a guy who has his hand towards his waist
now we can all you know look at that and
say under the coolness of retrospect
that we're like hey that he's just
hitching his pants up but I don't think
it's it's reasonable to expect the
officer to do that so given the totality
of the circumstances when we slow
everything down did he have the
objective reasonable standard that an
objective officer even though he was
mistaken in fact would have perceived a
deadly threat here I think the case is
yes and that's the standard that's gonna
be held for all of us now then they put
this guy in cuffs and I know some people
are gonna ask about putting a you know
somebody you've shot in the head in
cuffs police officers do that as a
matter of standard operating procedure
because we see all the time bad guys who
are down for the moment they rest for a
moment they get blood back into their
head and they end up a threat again so
they just put handcuffs on everybody and
then these officers tried to render
first aid which i think is a moral good
and also part of their duty once he's in
custody so why don't we look at this one
we start asking questions about when is
deadly force authorized and and it's
really the same for officers as it is
for anybody else that they have to
proceed
a reasonable imminent deadly threat of a
death or great bodily harm to themselves
to someone else in the police officers
case to the public as well and if they
can then they can use deadly force to
stop that threat that's really not much
different than the standard that a
private citizen gets so understand you
have to be able to articulate that and
there must be a reasonable objective
evidence for that fact here I think
that's met I know that the court of
public opinion is going to be mixed on
this one I know it's going to be
difficult and so I just recommend and
encourage all of you to be kind and to
be respectful and professional in the
comments about this and then let's think
about being tried in the court of public
opinion as well and it's realized as
private citizens that can happen to us
too so we have to recognize we need to
act in an objective reasonable
responsible manner with our firearms as
I think this officer did now from a
civil perspective this officer is
definitely you know there he's gonna be
sued the department's going to be sued
and all that stuff and the city of
Fresno is going to probably pay out on
this one because of the difference in
standard between a criminal case which
means beyond a reasonable doubt and a
civil case which is a preponderance of
the evidence but regardless of that
outcome thankfully that that the officer
did not get hurt in this instance and
guys let's learn from this negative
outcome and think about from a private
citizen perspective not running from the
cops because of the negative outcomes
that come from that let's think as well
about the objective reasonable standard
of using deadly force let's think about
that marksmanship piece as well as we
cover our ass