Legal Question in Constitutional Law in Iowa

police failing to protect the rights of children

almost two years ago, police were called to remove a guy from his house who was violating a no contact order. He was there because his wife knew he had no where to go, and to help with the kids. He had been abusive towards his wife the night before, and she wanted him out of the house.

When police got there, the kids were at the door, and asked the two officers about their handcuffs,''are you going to use those on our daddy ?''. The female officer stated, ''we're not going to hurt your daddy''. In a matter of 3-5 minute the officers went down into the basement where the man was. He had a piece of broken glass from a cheap coffee table in his hand, and he was threatening to hurt himself. At some point the officers alledged that he lunged at them, so they shot him in the heart and he died before paramedics got there. The kids and wife were in the house the whole time. The police were not concerned with the where abouts of the children, until after they shot their father. Were their constitutional rights violated, by the Police for not protecting the kids from not only a potential stray bullet, but also from being so close to hearwhatwashapening to their father?


Asked on 10/27/03, 1:42 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Edward Hoffman Law Offices of Edward A. Hoffman

Re: police failing to protect the rights of children

If the man lunged at the police with a potentially deadly weapon, then they were probably justified in shooting him. If they had no reason to expect such a reaction then they cannot be faulted for not preparing for it differently.

Your question doesn't say where the children or there mother were, but it does not sound like they were in the basement so there was little risk of physical harm to them at the time of the shooting.

There is no constitutional right of the children which is implicated here, at least not based upon the facts you have provided. I am not sure what right you think the children had that was violated by the police -- had the father not lunged at them he probably would have been arrested peacefully, so the problems that stemmed from this incident seem attributable to him and not to the police.

I presume the children were traumatized by these events, but there is no Constitutional right to be free from trauma. Besides, they probably would have been traumatized even if they had been removed from the house beforehand -- a step which may not have been indicated anyway.

In most situations like the one you describe, a shooting like this is very unlikely. It does not make sense for police to proceed each time as if they expect they will need to resort to violence.

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Answered on 10/27/03, 4:39 pm


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