ICE claims the Minneapolis headshot was self-defense, but many police forces have explicit rules against shooting at moving cars | Fortune

"The fatal shooting of a woman by a federal immigration officer in Minneapolis on Wednesday has thrust a long-running and deeply contested question back into the national spotlight: When is a law enforcement officer justified in using lethal force against someone in a moving vehicle? The killing, captured on cellphone video, has exposed sharp divisions between federal authorities who quickly defended the agent's actions and local leaders who called the shooting unjustified."

"At the center of the debate are policies that for years have limited when officers may fire at vehicles, generally barring gunfire at fleeing cars unless the driver poses an imminent threat of deadly force beyond the vehicle itself. Those restrictions, embraced by many police departments and reflected in federal guidance, were intended to curb what experts long warned was among the most dangerous and unpredictable uses of lethal force."

"Why many police agencies limit shooting at moving vehicles For decades, police departments across the U.S. have limited when officers are allowed to fire at moving vehicles, citing the danger to bystanders and the risk that a driver who is shot will lose control. The New York City Police Department was among the first to adopt those limits. The department barred officers from firing at or from moving vehicles after a 1972 shooting killed a"

A federal immigration agent fatally shot a woman in a Minneapolis traffic encounter, captured on cellphone video, prompting sharp divisions between federal defenders and local leaders who called the shooting unjustified. Longstanding police policies limit firing at moving vehicles because shooting drivers risks harming bystanders and causing drivers to lose control. Those policies typically bar gunfire at fleeing cars unless an officer reasonably perceives an imminent threat of deadly force beyond the vehicle itself. Federal guidance echoes many departmental rules, aiming to reduce one of the most dangerous and unpredictable uses of lethal force.

Read at Fortune