02/09/2014
THE NUMBER OF SHOTS FIRED IN THE MICHAEL BROWN SHOOTING WERE NOT "EXCESSIVE"
Fi****ms Expert: Dr. Baden was Wrong - Six Shots are not per se Excessive
A question in recent days, and one that seems directly linked to the civil unrest in Ferguson is whether the number of shots fired by Officer Wilson was “excessive”. For a number of factors, including law enforcement training and an officer’s ability to physically respond to a stimulus to stop shooting, the number of times Mr. Brown was shot was not “excessive”.
Dr. Michael Baden and Sean Parcells performed an autopsy on Michael Brown. This was not the first or the last autopsy performed on Mr. Brown, the first coming from the St. Louis chief medical examiner, Dr. Mary Case and at least one more scheduled to be performed by the United States Department of Justice.
Dr. Michael Baden, a well-respected former New York State medical examiner, was hired by the family of Michael Brown to perform an independent autopsy on Michael’s body. In an interview with Fox News’ Bill Hemmer, Dr. Baden stated that the incident “appears to be on its face excessive shooting because six bullets struck [Michael Brown]”.
Did six bullets go beyond what is usual, normal or proper (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/excessive)? Was six bullets, by itself, “excessive?”
Factors that are always at issue in any officer-involved shooting is (1) the decision for the officer to start shooting and then (2) the decision for the officer to stop shooting.
Without making any determination about whether Officer Wilson’s actions or decision to shoot Michael Brown were justified, we look at the physical act of firing, and also the process of deciding to stop firing.
As a starting point an average officer is capable of discharging a firearm six times in 1 ½-2 seconds.
Officers are generally taught that lethal force—the act of shooting someone—is authorized only to stop a threat or action of a suspect where serious bodily harm or death may result. In other words once a threat stops, the officer should stop shooting. Law Enforcement personnel, and the civilians that I train, are not taught “shoot to kill”. Rather, they are taught to shoot in order to stop a threat.
A study conducted by the Force Science Institute, (http://www.forcescience.org/stopshooting.html) concluded that an average police officer can stop pulling the trigger on a firearm approximately 1/3 of a second after receiving a visual stimulus to stop pulling the trigger. This study was conducted by having officers start shooting when a light was turned on, and then stop shooting when the same light was turned off. The officers were instructed to press the trigger of the firearm as fast as they could. The study demonstrated that under ideal conditions an officer will fire approximately two (2) rounds after they receive the cue (the light turning off) and decide to make the decision to stop shooting.
An important note: Force Science Institute study, there was only a single stimulus to which the officers had to respond. All officers knew there was a start and a stop, and what the visual cue was for each. None of the officers were under high levels of stress. Most importantly: These officers were not in any danger or fear for their lives.
If additional stressors or stimuli are introduced into the decision-making process, the time to process the stimulus, decide to stop firing and then to physically stop firing becomes even longer.
The reaction time to stop shooting will be increased when the officer is under the stress of using force and/or fearing that the officer’s life may be in danger. If the officer’s attention is focused on something other than just solely the suspect’s behavior--like being physically assaulted--the reaction time increases even more. Given all these factors, the time for an officer to stop shooting, even after recognizing visual cues can be 1-2 seconds or more.
Based on what we know so far, and the available science, Officer Wilson did not use his firearm excessively. It’s expected that Officer Wilson will say he was being physically assaulted, and other eyewitnesses have spoken of some kind of tussle. If Officer Wilson perceived a valid threat and then decided to fire his weapon, the fact that he fired six or more rounds is consistent with ceasing to fire his weapon as soon as he perceived the threat against him stopping. This is based on eyewitness accounts of Michael Brown changing his behavior almost immediately when Officer Wilson started firing his weapon.
The bottom line? Dr. Baden is wrong…at least partially. The mere fact that six shots (or more) were fired by Officer Wilson does not—by itself—make this an obvious case of “excessive shooting”.
Michael Sheesley is the Vice-President, owner and lead instructor at Virgin Arms, a Federal Fi****ms License holder and fi****ms training company located in the U.S. Virgin Islands. He has over 30 years of experience with fi****ms and is a certified NRA rifle and pistol instructor. He is a member of the International Law Enforcement Educators and Trainers Association (ILEETA) and the International Association of Law Enforcement Fi****ms Instructors (IALEFI) and other international organizations. Mr. Sheesley has taught at several international conferences on fi****ms and legal matters, and has authored numerous articles on self-defense, fi****ms training and the law. Michael Sheesley is also a practicing attorney in the U.S. Virgin Islands since 2005. He has a diverse practice area that includes criminal defense. His e-mail is: [email protected].
Excessive - Definition and More from the Free Merriam-Webster Dictionary Definition of excessive from the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary with audio pronunciations, thesaurus, Word of the Day, and word games.
28/02/2014
28/02/2014