Tennessee Vs Garner Case Study

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Tennessee v. Garner (1984) applies to the unreasonable force that was demonstrated by an officer that caused the death of a fleeing suspect. Although the officer’s actions were justified by the Memphis statute at the time, it was reviewed by the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit and determined that common law did not account for the “modern” state of law. It was concluded that the officer violated the fourth amendment right “...of the people to be secure in their persons…” and established the specification of force an officer may use in a certain situation.
Two Memphis police officers, Leslie Wright and Elton Hymon, were dispatched to a burglary call on October 3, 1974 at 10:45 P.M. Hymon saw someone running across the backyard of a house, the suspect was Edward Garner, a 15-year-old boy. Garner stopped at a …show more content…
White examined the common law rule which stated that it was acceptable for law enforcement to kill a fleeing suspect. Due to the different environments between the time when common law was enforced and when modern law was enacted, the circumstances ,such as the fact that most felony charges were punishable by death and the large difference between felonies and misdemeanors, were lacked in modern law. Not to mention that during the common law era, police officers did not have access to innovative firearms, such as handguns. Therefore, common law expired due to these circumstances. White pointed out that current research showed no relationship between the use of deadly force and the deterrence of crime. In my opinion, the officer used unreasonable deadly force against the suspect and violated the fourth amendment right “...of the people to be secure in their persons…” Since the incident resulted in the death of the suspect, it was an action that took away his security of
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