Can you run from police? US courts apply a double standard

"Fleeing from police is not, by itself, illegal in America, but courts have set a different standard for places where street crime is common"

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Can you run from police? US courts apply a double standard Quote: BALTIMORE — When police spotted Freddie Gray and he took off running through his Baltimore neighborhood, officers made a split-second decision to give chase, setting in motion his death in custody and rioting in the streets. Fleeing from police is not, by itself, illegal in America, and the U.S. Supreme Court has made clear that in safe neighborhoods, people not suspected of criminal activity can ignore a police officer who approaches them, even to the point of walking away. But courts have set a different standard for places where street crime is common, ruling that police can chase, stop and frisk people if their location contributes to a suspicion of criminal activity. This double standard is having a major impact as more black men die in encounters with police around the country. Many have been shot or tackled while trying to flee. The court rulings justifying police chases in high-crime areas where many African-Americans live are contributing to a dangerous divide between police and citizens, said Ezekiel Edwards, director of the Criminal Law Reform Project at the American Civil Liberties Union. "Folks who are going to be the most intimidated or scared of the police are the same people in places where the Supreme Court has said, 'if you run from police, that's suspicion,'" he said. Edwards is among the legal experts who say unprovoked flight, on its own, shouldn't justify a chase: "If you can walk away, you can run away. It shouldn't matter the speed at which you move away."

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Quote: The Supreme Court has ruled that officers can use deadly force against an escaping suspect only if they believe the person poses "a significant threat of death or serious physical injury" to the officers or someone else. Use of less-than-lethal force also requires officers to determine the seriousness of the suspected crime, and whether the suspect poses a safety threat or is attempting to evade arrest. Legal experts say that when acting under reasonable suspicion, police generally are not supposed to use force to apprehend someone or slap handcuffs on them — unless their subsequent conversation or frisk turns up evidence of a crime or a weapon, such as a gun. In Baltimore, Gray had the knife, but it's not clear that simply possessing it was enough to arrest him. "The nature of the evidence is important," Moreno said. "The knife cannot possibly substantiate any concern the police might have had with public safety, because they couldn't see it. It's a difficult thing. You have to look at it step by step by step."

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Can you run from police? US courts apply a double standard