Question

If you were the Chief of the Memphis Police Department during the Tennessee v. Garner case, what ethical dilemmas do you think should be addressed immediately upon the Supreme Court's decision?

Answer 1

Leslie Wright and Elton Hymon from Memphis police department were attending a burglary call while they spotted Edward Garner a 15 year old boy running out of the house. When Hymon spotted him he warned the boy to stop but the boy kept running and started climbing the wall. Hymon shot the boy and the bullet pierced the boy’s head which led him to his death. The court clarified during the case that unless and until the suspect cause a threat to the lives of the officers and others around, the police officers shouldn’t use force. Although the district court justified the actions of the officers the United States Court of Appeal for the sixth circuit found the act inappropriate.

The immediate ethical dilemma would whether to catch the offender using force or let him escape. The offender would have murdered someone already but not causing any threat at present which would also give the offender the reason to escape. Without using force at times, the offenders wouldn’t mind running and escaping from the crime scenario because it’s fear and punishment that keeps people away from crime. The dilemma would to do justice to the victim or follow the procedure and let go off the offender.