re: Police in Wash. Shoot Man Running From them with a rock in his hands.

quote:

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You really don't see the danger in leaving up to individual interpretation?

"He punched me in the stomach then stood over me, so I shot him! I felt threatened! Granted I slapped his wife's arse first, but whatever...."

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I think most laws include a reasonableness requirement, that those feelings or beliefs of being threatened be reasonable. It is supposed to make it a more objective test instead of a subjective test of what that particular person felt. That persons belief of a threat is evidence, but not determinative of the issue. In other words, in the totality of the circumstances, was that person's belief reasonable. So just saying you felt threatened is not enough.

The thing you see when officers are involved is that juries are very typically going to defer to the officer's subjective belief, whether it was reasonable or not.