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.