# Post-critical incident conversations: Be careful what you say, and to whom you say it



## kwflatbed (Dec 29, 2004)

*Police Liability and Litigation*
with Terrence 

You are on patrol, thirty minutes until the end of your week-long midnight shift rotation, you are tired, a bit hungry and thinking about your six year old child's birthday party later in the afternoon. Mentally you are reviewing your day's itinerary: go home, get a few hours sleep, then help your spouse set up for the party and pick up the cake. A check of a commercial district in your patrol sector will be your last run of the shift before heading to the station to gas up and sign-out. 
As you pass behind a row of stores you see a lone subject exit a door that appears to have its lock broken. You hit your spot light and the individual takes off. As you exit your patrol car you call in your location and involvement in a foot pursuit. The chase leads to a wooded area behind the row of stores. You yell at the suspect to stop and show his hands when suddenly the suspect stops, crouches, and turns toward you. You see an object in his right hand, order the suspect not to move, but he continues in one motion and his upper body leans forward. You fire two rounds striking the suspect in the chest and shoulder. 
While keeping the suspect covered you cautiously approach, call in the shooting, and request an ambulance. You check the suspect's pulse-it is weak. On the ground near the suspect's right hand is a cell phone. No gun or other weapon is found on or near the suspect. 
Within ten minutes of the shooting the suspect will die from his wounds. Your day has suddenly taken a dramatic turn. A person is dead; it is a homicide, whether or not it is justifiable will be determined by grand jury review. You will be questioned and expected to provide answers. What protections are in place for you? Criminal defendants have rights-what are yours? 
The Fifth Amendment provides important individual protections against the awesome power of the state. As a public servant though, a police officer is not as insulated from official questioning as a civilian would be in the same situation. The extent of the Fifth Amendment privilege as well as other testimonial privileges as applied to a police officer after a critical incident can be a minefield. 
While the above scenario is dramatic it can be equally relevant to a vehicle pursuit resulting in the suspect vehicle crashing and the operator succumbing to injuries, or a violent domestic in which one of the participants is injured by responding officers. This article will focus on fellow officer and union official-union member conversations which are generally considered benign, non-formal conversations. 
Although they are not officially-compelled conversations, as in a _Garrity_ situation, they can come back to haunt the officer and have serious repercussions. A review of the present state of the law as it pertains to non-formalized post-critical incident statements made by officers is warranted.

Full Article: Post-critical incident conversations: Be careful what you say, and to whom you say it


----------

