Federal Statutes Are Just as Vague
Federal statutes don’t tend to be any better than state ones. While federal law actually prohibits officers from firing at fleeing suspects (a fact many prosecutors avoid bringing up when presenting their cases to a grand jury), a 1985 Supreme Court ruling created the standard that an officer has the right to resort to deadly force if the officer has “probable cause to believe that the suspect poses a significant threat of death or serious physical injury” to other officers or bystanders.
