In Part One, I defined deadly force, explained my lecture framework, and provided an overview of when such force might lawfully be employed. To summarize, if you: can (mentally and physically able, and have the appropriate equipment); may (act within the law, and agency policy, if applicable), and; should (exercised sound judgment, reasonably deciding deadly force is necessary), or simply must (to avoid your own likely death), deadly force is properly used to defend against imminent and otherwise unavoidable death or great bodily harm.  It is also lawfully used in situations specifically enumerated by state statute, for example, to intervene in the commission of a felony involving force (threatened or actual injury).   State law may treat situations of self-defense, defense of persons to whom some duty is owed, or defense of strangers differently.  LEO’s have further dimensions of analysis specifically for arrestees and escapees, and generally, because of the constitutional prohibition on the use of “excessive” force.

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