MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
Officials and many residents in Minnesota are angry and upset after an immigration officer shot and killed Renee Nicole Good in her car on Wednesday. Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said he feared something like this would happen after the Trump administration ramped up immigration enforcement. The Trump administration says the agent was defending himself. Now, many people have questions about this incident. But NPR's law enforcement correspondent Martin Kaste is going to focus on what the law says about when officers can shoot at a moving car. And let me warn you - you're going to hear the sound of gunfire.
MARTIN KASTE, BYLINE: The bystander videos show the final moments as agents get out of a pickup and approach a maroon SUV that's crosswise in the street, blocking their way. One agent grabs the door handle. The SUV backs up, then turns away from the feds' truck. And that's when another officer standing just off the driver's side fender opens fire at the driver.
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UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: No. No. [Expletive].
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UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: [Expletive].
KASTE: The driver was pronounced dead at a local hospital. The federal government's version of what happened was laid out later in the day by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, who called the shooting preventable. She said the woman had been, quote, "harassing" immigration agents, something she says has been happening to them a lot. Noem said the driver of the SUV had been, quote, "stalking and impeding their work," unquote, and agents ordered her to get out.
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KRISTI NOEM: She then proceeded to weaponize her vehicle, and she attempted to run an - law enforcement officer over. This appears as an attempt to kill or to cause bodily harm to agents.
KASTE: Noem's choice of words matters. Over the decades, the courts have said that officers can't shoot someone just for trying to drive away. They need to have a reasonable perception of an imminent threat of death or great bodily harm to them or someone else before they may shoot at a driver. And in the Minneapolis case, that's very much in doubt. Many people who've looked at the video see a driver who's just trying to drive away. The mayor of Minneapolis, Jacob Frey, dismissed the feds' version of events.
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JACOB FREY: Having seen the video myself, I want to tell everybody directly - that is [expletive]. This was an agent recklessly using power that resulted in somebody dying - getting killed.
KASTE: And the question isn't just whether the officer was reasonable and feeling threatened. Seth Stoughton is a former cop, now a law professor at the University of South Carolina, where he specializes in the study of tactics and the use of force. He says the officers' actions leading up to the shooting also matter.
SETH STOUGHTON: There are articles in police magazines from 20 years ago that describe stepping into a vehicle's path of travel as a very poor tactic, an ill-advised tactic, a tactic that is contrary to common sense. Officers shouldn't be in a position where a vehicle can actually hit them.
KASTE: Stoughton is not passing judgment on this incident. But he says in theory, local law enforcement could bring charges against the federal officer. Minnesota's Bureau of Criminal Apprehension is investigating, as is the FBI.
Martin Kaste, NPR News. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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