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Richardson v. McGriff11/15/2000
le officer on the scene. Clearly, by shooting petitioner, McGriff effected a "seizure" of him for purposes of Article 26.
To make the requisite showings, petitioner wanted to present to the jury and have the jury determine that (1) the entire confrontation could have been avoided if McGriff and Catterton had not entered the apartment in the first place without additional back-up, and (2) McGriff would not have mistaken the unarmed petitioner for an armed person had he turned on the kitchen light before opening the closet. The reasonableness of McGriff's conduct, he contended, had to take into account, and indeed was governed by, this antecedent conduct which, in his view, violated established police procedure. He urges that the evidence sought to be presented established the violation and that the supplemental instruction precluded the jury from considering it.
Police Guidelines and Regulations
Officer McGriff filed a motion in limine to exclude "any evidence relating to any alleged violations of police procedure preceding the arrest of Plaintiff," on the grounds that (1) such evidence was not probative on the issue of whether McGriff used unreasonable force, and (2) the evidence in question consisted of police "guidelines," not commands or injunctions, and left a great deal of discretion in the officer. Essentially, the motion was based on lack of relevance. The documentary evidence sought to be excluded consisted of nine pages of single-spaced guidelines issued by the Baltimore City Police Department on the use of deadly force and 13 pages of single-spaced rules and regulations concerning a wide range of police conduct and behavior. Most of the rules and regulations, which cover the entire gamut of police conduct, from being courteous and fulfilling financial obligations, to saluting superior officers, to refraining from publicly criticizing public officials, to the circumstances when gambling, drinking, and smoking is not permitted, have no discernible relevance to any issue in the case. Even the guidelines on the use of deadly force include standards dealing with matters wholly inapposite to this case - guidelines on shooting at vehicles, shooting from vehicles, killing dangerous animals, and chasing suspects.
The rules and regulations relating to firearms require police officers to be suitably armed when on duty and, although they place conditions on the use of firearms to prevent the escape of felons and prohibit their use to prevent the escape of misdemeanants, they expressly permit officers to use their firearms in self-defense. The guidelines dealing with deadly force that petitioner particularly stressed provide, in pertinent part, that officers may use deadly force "only as a last resort," that they "should try to avoid putting themselves in a situation where they have no option but to use deadly force," that they should " ry to use other less deadly means," and that they should " ait for sufficient number of officers to handle situation without undue force." Consistent with the rules and regulations, the guidelines expressly allow the use of firearms in self- defense and state that " he attacked officer is the person who has to evaluate the potential seriousness of the attack and determine an appropriate level of response," the only caveat being that " he evaluation and response must be reasonable from the perspective of a reasonable police officer similarly situated."
McGriff argued that, in the context sought to be used by petitioner, these guidelines and regulations were irrelevant and misleading. He suggested that petitioner wanted the jury to determine that McGriff had violated some of those guidelines but urged that petitioner had offer
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