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Tennessee v. Garner: Case Brief

             Tennessee v. Garner is one of the landmark cases determined by the supreme court of the united states concerning the application of the civil rights act of 1871 and the U.S constitution’s Fourth Amendment. This case concerns the killing of Edward Garner by the Memphis police officer, Elton Hymon on October 3, 1974. Garner was suspected of burglary and allegedly tried to escape by jumping over the fence. While applying the policy of a Memphis police department and the Tennessee statute that allows police to use deadly force to a fleeing suspect, officer Hymon shot Garner to stop him from fleeing. 

            In 1983, Garner’s father filed a civil case against Tennessee and others in the U.S district court, Western District of Tennessee. The legal issue under examination as pursued by Garner’s father is the police use of deadly force to a suspect and the rightful implementation of the Civil rights act of 1871 (Evans, 2020). The district court determined that the police act was constitutional and in line with the state statutes. However, Garner’s father decided to pursue the matter to the appellate court. Luckily, the court of appeal overturned the decision by the district court by stating that killing a suspect is constitutionally a “seizure” as per the 4^th amendment. As such, the Tennessee statutes did not restrict the use of deadly force in line with the constitution. Tennessee appealed the appellate court’s decision to the U.S supreme court. However, the supreme court upheld the decision of the court of appeal.

            While applying the opinion of the majority in March 1984, Justice White ruled that officers may use deadly force on a fleeing suspect only if the officer has plausible basis to believe that the fleeing person prompts considerable danger of death or severe injury to other people or the officer (Michalos, 2020). The dissenting voice led by justice O’Connor argued that police must often make fast decisions while patrolling the designated regions. Burglary and various assaults that happened in the case of Garner are serious crimes that require the use of lethal force. This case has significantly impacted criminal justice system, particularly on protecting the civil rights act and the right to search and seizure as stipulated under the 4^th amendment.

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