The minimum force necessary to affect a safe apprehension.
That is the mantra of using force as a police officer.
My partner and I were going to a house in a rather notorious neighborhood to serve an arrest warrant. The warrant was for a relatively minor offense, assault and batter or something.
It was spring time and the nights were cool and comfy. Most people had their windows open enjoying the weather. We knocked on the door several times but to no avail.
James, my partner, walked around the house and saw through an open window, our suspect, sound asleep on the bed. My partner also observed a large water gun… “Super Soaker” laying in the backyard.
Now to be fair, we called out to the guy, through the window several times trying to wake him up so we could tell him to come to the door. There were several officers around the house so we weren’t too worried about him running away or anything. He didn’t budge.
Keeping our mantra in mind, my partner, picked up the Super Soaker and test fired it a couple of times, at me, at other officers at the poodle in the backyard. It worked. So he turns the weapon on the sleeping criminal. And proceeds to “super soak” him. It worked.
Dillinger woke up and started fussing. We announced ourselves and he politely came to the door and let us in. We allowed him to dry off, get dressed and took him to jail. No harm no foul.
