My own Can You Shoot?

[Goodcat]

You are taking a stroll with your friend downtown. You stop to take a phone call or something while your friend wanders on. You witness a robber jump out from behind a dumpster and demand his money. You are armed, your friend is not. The robber looses patience almost immediately and stabs your friend, then takes off running. You are chasing in hot pursuit and yell "freeze!". He does not. You are now 15 feet behind him and chasing. After another 5 more minutes of chasing, you again are very near, draw your gun and yell "freeze or I'll shoot". He doesn't even turn around, just keeps running.

Can you shoot? Do you just keep chasing and hoping eventually he'll get tired before you do? Do you give up and let him go free, though your friend very well could be dead or mortally wounded?

 

[ATF Consumer]

No you can't shoot, that would make you a criminal as well. Owning a gun does not give you the right to just shoot people because they are evading getting caught.
You could have shot him while he was stabbing your friend, but that would be the only time in that hypothetical story it would be justified.

 

[LPMan59]

now keep in mind IANAL, etc....

good question. this is kinda like gunlawyer's scenario about shooting the perp who is "fleeing" your house but is still carrying your property. you (or your lawyer) might be able to argue that him fleeing with the weapon is a continuation of the forcible felony (armed robbery, assault, attempted murder, etc) and/or other people are still in immediate danger.

however, i see a a DA especially in Marion county arguing that the threat had passed (shooting someone in the back is an iffy thing) and that you should have been calling 911 and attending to your wounded friend.

now if i was on the jury, not guilty by the facts you have presented. but thats me.

i will await for the experts to chime in now.

 

[Cygnus]

I gonna go with yes. You can shoot a fleeing felon. The bigger question is did you have the person you were talking to call 011 for your injured friend.
The continued chase is my only concern. Shooting shortly after is probably more likley in your favor.

IANAL, TINLA, ETC., PTA, IBM......

 

[Goodcat]

No you can't shoot, that would make you a criminal as well. Owning a gun does not give you the right to just shoot people because they are evading getting caught.
You could have shot him while he was stabbing your friend, but that would be the only time in that hypothetical story it would be justified.

I just don't get it. If that's the case, then I could watch several friends get murdered, then because the BG is already running away before I react, I can't do anything about it? A more extreme situation, but similar.

 

[ATF Consumer]

I just don't get it. If that's the case, then I could watch several friends get murdered, then because the BG is already running away before I react, I can't do anything about it? A more extreme situation, but similar.

If you watched several friends get murdered then you aren't very well useful with your handgun.

I have yet to see a Cops episode where they shoot a fleeing person running from them...they use their tazers though.

 

[Goodcat]

If you watched several friends get murdered then you aren't very well useful with your handgun.

I have yet to see a Cops episode where they shoot a fleeing person running from them...they use their tazers though.

This is why I wish our guns could 'set for stun' :-) I agree, you never see a cop pull the trigger. They either catch them, or they get away (not on the show of course). I just wish I could call in a bunch of cars if I was chasing the BG. :-)

 

[ATF Consumer]

This is why I wish our guns could 'set for stun' :-) I agree, you never see a cop pull the trigger. They either catch them, or they get away (not on the show of course). I just wish I could call in a bunch of cars if I was chasing the BG. :-)

That is why I also have a tazer...don't always carry it, but I did have it with me when I drove to California and back.

 

[samot]

I have yet to see a Cops episode where they shoot a fleeing person running from them...they use their tazers though.

Did ya really think theyd let em air that episode Really ?

 

[bwframe]

Interesting. I would have never said "freeze." I know what I'd do...

 

[techres]

You should have stayed with your friend to administer 1st aid and get help to him as fast as possible.

Once the threat has broken off, lethal force is off the table unless the threat is merely moving the fight to better concealment (which means it did not actually break off).

We are on the defensive and we have to stay there. We are always one step behind in the event. Our one advantage is that they do not expect teeth.

Stay with your friend, help him survive. And if nothing more, make sure he does not die alone while you are off on some legally tenuous foot race.

 

[JohnP82]

i agree my top priority would be my wounded friend.

 

[trnsplntfrmohio]

don't play cop.
don't split up in a strange place.
eos.

 

[Indy_Guy_77]

Yes, I can shoot.

I will also go to jail for a long, long time.

-J-

 

[possum_128]

A big NO! The threat is over and he has broken off combat. You shoot you are going to jail.

 

[tv1217]

Legally, sounds like a no. Personally, I think the law should be changed ever so slightly for conditions like this so you can blow the MF'er away. If I was on the jury, I'd say not guilty.

 

[modelflyer2003]

You cannot shoot. When I was at the LE academy we had lots of these conversations. One was about molotov cocktails. If the person was going to throw a Molotov cocktail at you and he has his hand behind like he is wound up to throw, you can shoot him, but as soon as it leaves his hand you cannot. At the moment it is thrown, the immediate threat is gone. Same with this situation. He was running away, and the threat was removed. If you keep in mind that the idea is to neutralize a threat then things are more easily kept in perspective.

 

[singlestacksig]

C 35-41-3-3
Use of force relating to arrest or escape
**** Sec. 3. (a) A person other than a law enforcement officer is justified in using reasonable force against another person to effect an arrest or prevent the other person's escape if:
********(1) a felony has been committed; and
********(2) there is probable cause to believe the other person committed that felony.
However, such a person is not justified in using deadly force unless that force is justified under section 2 of this chapter.

 

[Wabatuckian]

Broken contact; attend to the wounded.

 

[femurphy77]

I just don't get it. If that's the case, then I could watch several friends get murdered, then because the BG is already running away before I react, I can't do anything about it? A more extreme situation, but similar.[/quote

"It was awful officer, after he stabbed my friends he started to leave the scene but then noticed me, as he was coming towards me somebody hollered at the BG causing him to turn just as I fired in self-defense."