Legally Justified

Police evaluate use-of-force incidents by focusing on the legal standard set by the Supreme Court in the 1989 case Graham v. Connor and whether said force was ‘objectively reasonable’ and justified, at the moment, and through the lens of ‘a reasonable officer on the scene.’

When citizens, the media and politicians evaluate police use-of-force incidents, they ask an entirely different question: Was it avoidable? Basically they want to know whether the involved officer could have done something – anything – else besides resort to force. In essence, such thinking puts the entire responsibility on the officer and excuses the behavior of the citizen who forced was used against.