From all reports, he was obeying orders, at least until he saw his mom slammed against the wall.seamusTX wrote:One of the significant questions before the jury is when an officer can justifiably choose to use deadly force against a felony suspect who is refusing to obey orders.And the, "he reached for his waistband" defense is right up there ...
I don't know which "use of force continuum model" the Bellaire PD uses, but I'm willing to bet that same round of drinks that "disobeying orders" doesn't justify jumping from verbal commands to use of deadly force.
Interestingly, it looks like Robbie Tolan could also claim the defense of necessity, if he was charged. The circumstances could certainly be portrayed so that he reasonably believed that he needed to use force to stop an unlawful use of force against his mother.I seem to be getting a reputation around here as a bore because I keep bringing up the elements of justification in Chapter 9.32:DEADLY FORCE IN DEFENSE OF PERSON. (a) A person is justified in using deadly force against another:
(2) when and to the degree the actor reasonably believes the deadly force is immediately necessary:
(A) to protect the actor against the other's use or attempted use of unlawful deadly force; ...
I'm sure that jury deliberations are interesting. I wonder if the jury was allowed to hear the statistics about Bellaire's traffic stops (if I recall correctly, a small minority black population, but the vast majority of their traffic stops were black drivers).