- Ref # CAE00021
- March 03, 2023
What Is An Officer’s Duty to Intercede in Excessive Force Cases? An editorial by Robert Phillips, DDA (Ret).
California Legal Updates Editorial
By Robert Phillips
Deputy District Attorney (Ret.)
The Duty to Intervene
Law enforcement officers have a duty to intervene when witnessing another officer’s use of excessive force. Failing to do so exposes the witness officer to potential civil, criminal, and departmental sanctions.
Two Seminal Cases
In May 2020, George Floyd, a 46-year-old African-American with a long and sometimes violent criminal history, was suffocated to death by Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin. Chauvin used a knee on Floyd’s neck to pin a handcuffed Floyd to the ground for some 9 minutes and 29 seconds. Three other officers held onlookers back, ignoring Floyd as he cried out that he couldn’t breathe.
All four officers were subsequently criminally prosecuted, indicted on a variety of state and federal charges. Chauvin eventually received a state and federal concurrent prison term of 22½ years. The other officers, two of whom helped hold Floyd down at times and another who prevented on-lookers from interfering while themselves failing to intervene, got from three to three and a half years in prison. On top of that, the City of Minneapolis agreed to pay Floyd’s estate a whopping $27 million to settle a lawsuit filed by his family.
Another tragic case from January 7 of this year is ongoing: five Memphis Police Department officers are accused of having beaten to death a 27-year old black man – Tyre Nichols –
During what, in hindsight, should have been nothing more than a simple traffic stop. All five officers, who are themselves black, have been fired from the Memphis P.D. and charged in state court with second-degree murder. A sixth officer has subsequently been fired, and two .... © 2026 Legal Updates, LLC.
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