Tennessee v. Garner
United States Supreme Court
471 U.S. 1 (1985)
Memphis police officer Elton Hymon responded to a nighttime burglary and saw Edward Garner, an unarmed teenage suspect, fleeing across a backyard; when Garner began climbing a fence after being told to halt, and despite Hymon believing Garner was unarmed, Hymon shot and killed him under a Tennessee statute authorizing all necessary force to effect an arrest of a fleeing suspect. After a police review board and grand jury declined to act, Garner's father sued Hymon and other officials under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, and after the court of appeals held the killing of a fleeing suspect was a Fourth Amendment "seizure" requiring reasonableness, Tennessee intervened to defend its statute and the Supreme Court granted certiorari.
Whether the Fourth Amendment permits a police officer to use deadly force to prevent the escape of an unarmed fleeing suspect who poses no threat of death or serious physical injury to the officer or others.