THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, December 6, 1994 TAG: 9412060322
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A7 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Short : 44 lines
The Supreme Court will not review a ruling that lets police shoot people who try to escape while awaiting criminal trial, even if they are unarmed and not dangerous.
The court, acting without comment Monday, turned away arguments in a Houston area case that the use of such deadly force violates the constitutional rights of ``pretrial detainees'' who are shot while trying to escape.
The justices refused to extend a 1985 decision that struck down a Tennessee law. In it, the court ruled that police may not shoot unarmed, fleeing criminal suspects who pose no immediate danger.
Roland Brothers Jr. was arrested and jailed in Jersey Village, Texas, for auto theft in November 1988. He later was turned over to Harris County sheriff's deputies for transfer to the county jail.
Brothers, who had escaped from county deputies twice before, was handcuffed and placed in leg restraints while being driven to the county jail. Once there, he fled from the car while two deputies left it temporarily.
Brothers somehow had removed the handcuffs and leg restraints. The deputies shouted at him to stop, but he did not. They then drew their guns and fired 12 times.
Brothers, hit by three bullets, was killed. His family sued Harris County and the sheriff, attacking as unconstitutional the policy that allows deputies to shoot in such circumstances.
An appeals court said that because Brothers was in custody at the time of his escape attempt - having been seized once - he no longer was protected against unreasonable police seizure.
Lawyers for Brothers' family had argued that ``two deputy sheriffs imposed the death penalty on an unarmed suspect in their custody, not yet convicted of any crime simply because he tried to run away.''
KEYWORDS: SUPREME COURT by CNB