Bill Text: FL S0562 | 2020 | Regular Session | Introduced

---

Bill Title: Use of Force by Law Enforcement Officers

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Failed) 2020-03-14 - Died in Criminal Justice [S0562 Detail]

Download: Florida-2020-S0562-Introduced.html

---

       Florida Senate - 2020                                     SB 562
       
       
        
       By Senator Bracy
       
       
       
       
       
       11-00495-20                                            2020562__
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to use of force by law enforcement
    3         officers; amending s. 776.05, F.S.; defining terms;
    4         revising the circumstances under which a law
    5         enforcement officer is authorized to use objectively
    6         reasonable force; revising the circumstances under
    7         which a law enforcement officer is authorized to use
    8         deadly force; prohibiting a law enforcement officer
    9         from using deadly force against a person under certain
   10         circumstances; providing an effective date.
   11          
   12  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   13  
   14         Section 1. Section 776.05, Florida Statutes, is amended to
   15  read:
   16         776.05 Law enforcement officers; use of force in making an
   17  arrest.—
   18         (1) As used in this section, the term:
   19         (a) “Deadly force” means any use of force that creates a
   20  substantial risk of causing death or serious bodily injury,
   21  including, but not limited to, the discharge of a firearm.
   22         (b) “Imminent,” in the case of a threat of death or serious
   23  bodily injury, means when, based on the totality of the
   24  circumstances, a reasonable law enforcement officer in the same
   25  situation would believe that a person has the present ability,
   26  opportunity, and apparent intent to immediately cause death or
   27  serious bodily harm to the law enforcement officer or others. An
   28  imminent harm is not merely a fear of future harm, no matter how
   29  great the fear and no matter how great the likelihood of the
   30  harm, but is one that, from appearances, must be instantly
   31  confronted and addressed.
   32         (c) “Totality of the circumstances” means all facts known
   33  to the law enforcement officer at the time, including, but not
   34  limited to, the conduct of the officer and the subject leading
   35  up to the use of deadly force.
   36         (2)(a) A law enforcement officer, or any person whom the
   37  officer has summoned or directed to assist him or her, need not
   38  retreat or desist from efforts to make a lawful arrest because
   39  of resistance or threatened resistance to the arrest. The
   40  officer may use objectively reasonable is justified in the use
   41  of any force:
   42         1.(1) That Which he or she reasonably believes to be
   43  necessary to defend himself or herself or another from bodily
   44  harm while making the arrest;
   45         2.(2) When necessarily committed in retaking felons who
   46  have escaped; or
   47         3.(3) When necessarily committed in arresting felons
   48  fleeing from justice.
   49         (b) However, This subsection is not shall not constitute a
   50  defense in any civil action for damages brought for the wrongful
   51  use of deadly force, unless the use of deadly force was
   52  necessary to prevent the arrest from being defeated by such
   53  flight; and, when feasible, some warning had been given;, and:
   54         1.(a) The officer reasonably believed, based on the
   55  totality of the circumstances, that such force was necessary to
   56  defend against an imminent believes that the fleeing felon poses
   57  a threat of death or serious physical harm to the officer or
   58  others posed by the fleeing felon; or
   59         2.(b) The officer reasonably believed, based on the
   60  totality of the circumstances, that such force was necessary due
   61  to the commission of a crime by believes that the fleeing felon
   62  which involved has committed a crime involving the infliction or
   63  threatened infliction of serious physical harm to another
   64  person.
   65  
   66  A law enforcement officer may not use deadly force against a
   67  person based on the danger that person poses to the law
   68  enforcement officer, if an objectively reasonable law
   69  enforcement officer would believe that the person does not pose
   70  an imminent threat of death or serious physical harm to the law
   71  enforcement officer or others.
   72         Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2020.