WhatCTinvestigators will consider as they review West Hartford fatal police shooting, experts say
Aug. 12—The shooting was captured on Teeter's body camera and the dash cam of his cruiser, as well as a surveillance camera at the Town Fair Tire, the inspector general's office said.
John DeCarlo, the former police chief of Branford, said investigators have a lot to look at in the shooting, and that whatever their determination is, it will be built on "multiple factors."
"Was the car being used as a deadly weapon? Did the officer have any alternatives? And what was the potential for harm to the public and the officer if the person wasn't stopped?" DeCarlo said were some of the questions the inspector general's office will need to consider. The investigators also "will be considering the officer's own actions," he added.
He pointed to the 1985 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Tennessee v. Garner, in which the court held that an officer cannot use deadly force simply to prevent someone who is unarmed and not dangerous from fleeing.
"We have to ask ourselves, is that what we have here? Because deadly force can only be used if an officer has probable cause to believe that the suspect poses a significant threat of death, or serious physical injury to the officers or others," said DeCarlo, a researcher and professor in the University of New Haven's Criminal Justice Department.
If the car Teeter was inside of is considered a weapon, and he was in harm's way because he was "trapped" in the car, DeCarlo said, "Given that, the officer might argue that the use of deadly force was necessary to stop, [what] might be an immediate and significant threat to their own life and the lives of others."
"The key factors that I think would be considered — and this is opinion only — permitting the reasonableness of deadly force are, number one, the immediacy and severity of the threat; two, whether the officer had the other means available to prevent harm; and three, the officer's role in creating this dangerous situation," DeCarlo said.
Michael S. Gould, a New York canine deployment and use-of-force expert, said Teeter's use of the K-9 appears to meet the objective reasonableness standard that applies when an officer is accused of using excessive force, whether deadly or otherwise.
Under that standard, three criteria must be met for an officer's actions to be considered reasonable: the crime must be serious, there must be a physical threat to the crime and community, and the suspect must actively be resisting arrest, Gould said.
"The only thing I hold my hat on in this particular case is (Alexander-Garcia's) past behavior and his future behavior — what did he do and what is he about to do?" Gould said, noting how the suspect was accused of fleeing a stolen car before he was attacked by the dog. "He always had opportunities to surrender all along this event. There you have the threat to the community and other people.
"The investigators, court and jury must view the events from the eyes of the officer at the time the force was used with the facts the officer had available at the time," Gould added. "Not always an easy task."
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