Tennessee v. Garner (1985) established that deadly force may be used only when?

• A. Deadly force may be used to prevent escape if the suspect poses a significant threat
• B. Deadly force can be used whenever the officer believes it is necessary
• C. Deadly force is never permissible
• D. Deadly force can be used to apprehend an unarmed suspect

Answer: (A)

Deadly force to prevent escape is governed by Tennessee v. Garner, which rejects the old idea that officers may use deadly force merely to prevent someone from fleeing. The ruling allows deadly force only when the fleeing suspect poses a significant threat of death or serious bodily harm to the officer or to others. This sets a clear limit: force must be justified by a real danger, and not used just to capture someone who is running away. So the best statement is that deadly force may be used to prevent escape if the suspect poses a significant threat.

Why the other ideas don’t fit: using deadly force whenever an officer believes it is necessary goes beyond the constitutional standard and could authorize excessive force; saying deadly force is never permissible ignores the situation where a real significant threat exists; and using deadly force to apprehend an unarmed suspect ignores the requirement that there must be a significant threat of death or serious bodily harm for the force to be lawful.