Constitutional law professor Jonathan Turley clarified the background behind a question posed to Republican South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott by moderator Chuck Todd on Meet The Press Sunday.
“Chuck Todd just asked Sen. Scott why we do not have a ‘national standard’ on the use of force by police,” Turley tweeted.
Turley said there is a national standard when it comes to “use of lethal force” by police.
“It is found in Tennessee v. Garner, 471 U.S. 1 (1985),” he said.
Turley continued, “In that case, the Supreme Court handed down a standard barring the use of deadly force to prevent escape unless ‘the officer has probable cause to believe that the suspect poses a significant threat of death or serious physical injury to the officer or others.'”
…In that case, the Supreme Court handed down a standard barring the use of deadly force to prevent escape unless “the officer has probable cause to believe that the suspect poses a significant threat of death or serious physical injury to the officer or others.”
— Jonathan Turley (@JonathanTurley) June 14, 2020
Use of force by police has been a subject of debate in the United States in recent weeks, and Turley’s comments come after Rayshard Brooks was shot and killed by a police officer in Atlanta.
Brooks, a 27-year-old black man, was fatally shot by a white police officer Friday night. Brooks was suspected of drunk-driving and was found asleep in his car outside of a Wendy’s restaurant blocking traffic. He failed a sobriety test, resisted arrest, was involved in a struggle with a police officer over a Taser, and was able to use the Taser against them, according to police.
On Saturday, the police chief in Atlanta resigned after his death.
A dashcam recording also caught the scene unfolding.
Congressional Democrats are working on major police reform legislation and Scott, a Republican and the party’s only black senator, has been tapped by GOP leadership to lead efforts on police reform.
“Todd pressed Scott on how to avoid racial ‘mistakes’ before the anniversary of the Juneteenth,” Turley said, making reference to what he called a “mistake of his NBC colleague asking Scott if he was being used as a ‘token’ black senator just before the Juneteenth, or any time.”
Late last week, NBC’s Craig Melvin asked Scott if “your party is using you, they’ve even thrown around the word ‘token,’ as well.”
“Well, I am also the only person in my conference who has been racially profiled driving while black,” Scott responded. “I’m the only one in my conference that’s been stopped seven times in one year as an elected official, perhaps the only one in my conference wearing this Senate pin that was stopped from coming into the building. So if there’s someone in the conference who understands discrimination and profiling, it’s me. It’s the reason why I asked to lead this charge, because it is a personal issue, it is the right issue.”
