Dethorne Graham's Objective Reasonableness
On November 12, 1984, Dethorne Graham was starting to recognize the onset of a diabetic reaction. He knew what he needed and he asked one of his friends to drive him to the nearest convenience store. Graham walked away from the car towards the convenience store without noticing the police officer, Connor, that was sitting across the road. Although once Graham got in the store and realized how many people were in the store he quickly walked out thinking it would be faster to go somewhere else. Connor then saw this happen and decided to follow them and pulled them over a little ways down the road. The driver, William Berry tried to tell Connor that Graham was a diabetic but Connor did not want to listen. Graham got out of the car and passed out on the curb. An officer that had arrived on the scene, rolled Graham over and handcuffed him. Four officers then picked him off of the ground and slammed him on the hood of Berry’s car. Graham had tried to tell the officers to get his wallet where he had a card labeling him as a diabetic. One officer told him to “Shut up!” and slammed his head on the car again. Officer Connor then got word that Graham had not done anything wrong at the store. The officers took him home and released him but not before
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Graham sustained many injuries.
Objective reasonableness is the standard that law enforcement officers are held to.
If anything they did was called into question, they would ask “would a reasonable officer, in the exact same situation, respond the same way?” In the case of Graham v. Connor, the officers used more force than necessary in the situation. They were not listening to Graham when he was trying to explain that he was diabetic and needed some sugar. They instead cuffed him and threw him on the hood of the car. Throughout the process of his detention he sustained many different injuries. In this case the objective reasonableness for this situation, it is not there, the officers had no reason to use this much force when they were interacting with
Graham.
Use of force is defined as the amount of force that is necessary to handle a situation or defuse a threat. It is a very important aspect in the law enforcement career. The amount of force you must be reasonable with the situation you are dealing with. If you encounter someone with a deadly weapon, that is deadly force, and the decision of the officer would be to defuse deadly force with deadly force. That is when the use of deadly force is reasonable. Any situation an officer encounters, they need to be able to discern what type of force to use. The Graham v. Connor case is important case law to law enforcement. It is there so the same mistake isn’t repeated. This case is important because it defines what types of “use of force” are acceptable. In the Graham case use of force was not necessary at all, and the objective reasonableness was not there either. It was not reasonable in the Graham case to use that amount of force. It is there to make sure that force isn’t used in a situation where force is not needed at all.
Graham sustained many injuries.
Objective reasonableness is the standard that law enforcement officers are held to.
If anything they did was called into question, they would ask “would a reasonable officer, in the exact same situation, respond the same way?” In the case of Graham v. Connor, the officers used more force than necessary in the situation. They were not listening to Graham when he was trying to explain that he was diabetic and needed some sugar. They instead cuffed him and threw him on the hood of the car. Throughout the process of his detention he sustained many different injuries. In this case the objective reasonableness for this situation, it is not there, the officers had no reason to use this much force when they were interacting with
Graham.
Use of force is defined as the amount of force that is necessary to handle a situation or defuse a threat. It is a very important aspect in the law enforcement career. The amount of force you must be reasonable with the situation you are dealing with. If you encounter someone with a deadly weapon, that is deadly force, and the decision of the officer would be to defuse deadly force with deadly force. That is when the use of deadly force is reasonable. Any situation an officer encounters, they need to be able to discern what type of force to use. The Graham v. Connor case is important case law to law enforcement. It is there so the same mistake isn’t repeated. This case is important because it defines what types of “use of force” are acceptable. In the Graham case use of force was not necessary at all, and the objective reasonableness was not there either. It was not reasonable in the Graham case to use that amount of force. It is there to make sure that force isn’t used in a situation where force is not needed at all.