HB 6462 — AN ACT CONCERNING USE OF FORCE BY A PEACE OFFICER.

Substitute House ofBill Representatives General Assembly File No.

456462 JanuaryPublic Session,Act 2021 Substitute House Bill No.

646221-4 HouseAN ofACT Representatives,CONCERNING MarchUSE 11,OF 2021FORCE TheBY CommitteeA onPEACE JudiciaryOFFICER. reported through REP.

STAFSTROM of the 129th Dist., Chairperson of the Committee on the part of the House, that the substitute bill ought to pass.

AN ACT CONCERNING USE OF FORCE BY A PEACE OFFICER.

sHB6462(A) /He Fileor No.she reasonably believes such use to be necessary to defend himself or herself or a third person from the use or imminent use of deadly physical force;

45or 1(B) sHB6462He Fileor she (i) has [exhausted the] reasonably determined that there Substitute House Bill No.

456462 (A)are Heno oravailable shereasonable alternatives to the use of deadly physical force, (ii) reasonably believes that the force employed creates no [substantial] unreasonable risk of injury to a third party, and (iii) reasonably believes such use of force to be necessary to defend(I) himselfeffect an arrest of a person whom he or herselfshe reasonably believes has committed or attempted to commit a thirdfelony personwhich frominvolved the useinfliction of serious physical injury, and if, where feasible, he or imminentshe has given warning of his or her intent to use deadly physical force, or (II) prevent the escape from custody of a person whom he or she reasonably believes has committed a felony which involved the infliction of serious physical injury and who poses a significant threat of death or serious physical injury to others, and if, where feasible, [under this subdivision,] he or she has given warning of his or her intent to use deadly physical force;force.

or (B) He or she (i) has [exhausted the] reasonably determined that there are no available reasonable alternatives to the use of deadly physical force, (ii) reasonably believes that the force employed creates no [substantial] unreasonable risk of injury to a third party, and (iii) reasonably believes such use of force to be necessary to (I) effect an arrest of a person whom he or she reasonably believes has committed or attempted to commit a felony which involved the infliction of serious physical injury, and if, where feasible, he or she has given warning of his or her intent to use deadly physical force, or (II) prevent the escape from custody of a person whom he or she reasonably believes has committed a felony which involved the infliction of serious physical injury and who poses a significant threat of death or serious physical injury to others, and if, where feasible, [under this subdivision,] he or she has given warning of his or her intent to use deadly physical force.

ThisApproved actMarch shall31, take2021 effectPublic asAct followsNo. and shall amend the following sections:

sHB646221-4 /2 Fileof No.2

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45 Section 1 March 31, 2021 New section Sec.

2 January 1, 2022 53a-22(c) JUD Joint Favorable Subst.

sHB6462 / File No.

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45 The following Fiscal Impact Statement and Bill Analysis are prepared for the benefit of the members of the General Assembly, solely for purposes of information, summarization and explanation and do not represent the intent of the General Assembly or either chamber thereof for any purpose.

In general, fiscal impacts are based upon a variety of informational sources, including the analyst’s professional knowledge.

Whenever applicable, agency data is consulted as part of the analysis, however final products do not necessarily reflect an assessment from any specific department.

OFA Fiscal Note State Impact:

None Municipal Impact:

None Explanation The bill makes changes to the use of force definitions and delays implementation of certain provisions of PA 20-1 JSS and does not result in a fiscal impact.

The Out Years State Impact:

None Municipal Impact:

None sHB6462 / File No.

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45 OLR Bill Analysis sHB 6462 AN ACT CONCERNING USE OF FORCE BY A PEACE OFFICER.

SUMMARY This bill delays the effective date of 2020 legislative changes affecting law enforcement use of force (§ 29 of PA 20-1, July Special Session (JSS)) from April 1, 2021, to January 1, 2022.

Among other things, these provisions (1) limit the circumstances under which a law enforcement officer’s use of deadly physical force is justified and establish factors to consider when evaluating whether the officer’s action was reasonable and (2) limit when officers may use chokeholds or similar restraints (see BACKGROUND).

The bill also modifies the circumstances in which officers are justified in using deadly physical force, established in PA 20-1, JSS (§ 29), by, among other things, (1) basing the objective reasonableness standard on the officer’s given circumstances at that time;

(2) requiring officers to have reasonably determined that no reasonable alternatives exist,rather than having exhausted such alternatives, if using deadly force when making an arrest or preventing escape;

and (3) establishing the condition that the escaping person poses a significant threat of death or serious physical injury to others, among other requirements.

The bill also makes a technical and conforming change.

EFFECTIVE DATE:

March 31, 2021, for the effective date provision and January 1, 2022, for the provision modifying the use of deadly force justification.

USE OF DEADLY PHYSICAL FORCE Objectively Reasonable Under PA 20-1, JSS (§ 29), one condition that justifies officers using sHB6462 / File No.

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45 deadly physical force is that the officers’ actions are objectively reasonable under the circumstances.

The bill specifies that the actions must be objectively reasonable given the circumstances at that time.

PA 20-1, JSS (§ 29), allows officers to use deadly physical force to: