Write the story of an average citizen, perhaps a female attorney who has a concealed-carry permit after being a crime victim, entering an apartment she thinks is her own to find the door ajar and an apparent intruder in the dark that she shoots dead. It is a tragic mistake with serious legal consequences, but there are no protests or cries of racism and probably not front-page news for more than a day.
Add a uniform and the fuse is lit.
Perhaps no one is thinking that when off-duty
Dallas police officer Amber Guyger encountered resident Botham Jean in his own apartment, killing him with her duty weapon, that it is anything other than an officer-involved shooting, but a discussion on where the lines are drawn is worth having.
Guyger was clearly off duty, although the long-held tradition (or law or policy) holds that there is no such thing as truly “
off duty.” Certainly she was in uniform, but other professions wear uniforms and many cops do not. She had a gun, but so do many civilians. She reportedly gave authoritative commands and took immediate action, but a lot of civilians are ex-military or have had some training in dealing with tense confrontations. She shot a black man, but lots of races and genders die by accident or murder at the hands of all kinds of races and genders.
Although no one knows where this case will go – and it will go for years after most people stop paying attention – we can be certain that the Dallas police department will hold Guyger accountable internally and criminally, while distancing her from their responsibility civilly.
It is in the civil arena that police agencies and their governing bodies claim that an officer’s off-duty conduct was so disconnected from their official responsibilities that the liability should be shouldered only by the officer. Lawsuit questions will be centered on whether the officer was acting under color of law or within the scope of their duties. Although it may be likely that the City of Dallas will be writing a substantial check with no civil trial, there are cases where even an on-duty officer’s actions were so out-of-bounds that the employing agency bore no liability for their egregious conduct.
