#ghaisar

On November 17, 2017, Ghaisar was driving to his parents’ house in Virginia for dinner. His Jeep was stopped when an Uber driver ran into him from behind. The collision “caused little or no damage,” but Ghaisar drove off without exchanging information, so the Uber driver called 911 and reported him. The police spotted Ghaisar and pulled him over. When the officer approached, however, he had his gun drawn. Ghaisar drove away.

According to police policy, “The act of fleeing and eluding the police shall not in itself be a pursuable offense.” Nevertheless, the police pursued Ghaisar, and eventually pulled him over again. They parked a police SUV in front of Ghaisar’s car, to block him from leaving. Two officers approached, again with their guns drawn. According to dashcam video of the incident, Ghaisar’s Jeep began to roll slowly around the police car blocking it. The officers--who were “not in any apparent danger of being struck”--promptly opened fire.

Ghaisar was unarmed. Police policy authorizes the use of deadly force only “when the officer has a reasonable belief, in light of the facts and circumstances confronting the officer, that the subject of such force poses an imminent danger of death or serious bodily harm to the officer or to another person.” In particular, “Officers shall not fire at a moving vehicle ... except when the officer has a reasonable belief that the subject poses an imminent danger of death or serious physical injury to the officer or to another person.”