May 15 (UPI) -- In a case making it easier to challenge police unreasonable force in court, the Supreme Court Thursday unanimously permitted the mother of a Houston man killed in a traffic stop to continue an excessive force court claim.
The court ruled that the totality of the circumstances and not just the "moment of threat doctrine" must be used to assess whether the use of police force was "objectively reasonable."
Justice Elena Kagan wrote in the opinion, "The question here is whether that framework permits courts, in evaluating a police shooting (or other use of force), to apply the so-called moment-of-threat rule ... Under that rule, a court looks only to the circumstances existing at the precise time an officer perceived the threat inducing him to shoot."
She added, "Today, we reject that approach as improperly narrowing the requisite Fourth Amendment analysis. To assess whether an officer acted reasonably in using force, a court must consider all the relevant circumstances, including facts and events leading up to the climactic moment."
Janice Hughes Barnes sued Houston Police officer Robert Felix Jr. for shooting Ashtian Barnes to death during a traffic stop as Barnes drove off April 28, 2016.
