Citation

Myerburg RJ, Goodman KW. Circulation 2012; 125(20): 2406-2408.

Affiliation

University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Miami, FL.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2012, American Heart Association, Publisher Lippincott Williams and Wilkins)

DOI

10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.112.107359

PMID

22547670

Abstract

The use of deadly force by law enforcement personnel is a hot-button issue in contemporary society. Their responsibility is to handle life-threatening situations while so far as possible avoiding fatalities or serious injuries of suspects, bystanders, or themselves. In these settings, the use of lethal weapons must be weighed against reactions to circumstances that do not pose an imminent threat of a fatal outcome. Moreover, use of intense physical restraint instead of lethal weapons in less ominous situations is not without risk either, in that fatal events due to asphyxia have occurred as an unintended consequence of this "non-lethal" control strategy. Moreover, the decision whether deployment of a lethal weapon, as opposed to physical restraint, is the proper action in a specific confrontation often must be made quickly, leaving little time for assessing options.

Language: en