The board tasked with proposing changes to the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department's policy on use of deadly force is recommending a greater emphasis on de-escalation.
The Charlotte Observer reports the draft policy written by the Citizens Review Board suggests officers try to calm people down and position themselves at a safe distance or behind a shield if they can to create a slower-moving, safer situation. The draft also recommends obligating officers to administer first aid to anyone they’ve injured.
Officers have been criticized for not administering first aid immediately after shootings.
The issue of rendering aid was in the spotlight after the fatal March shooting of Danquirs Franklin by police in west Charlotte. A video of the shooting shows that nearly four minutes went by before medics arrived to tend to Franklin's wounds. By that point, more officers had arrived and none could be seen giving him medical attention.
Chief Kerr Putney met with the board Tuesday after asking them with help drafting a new deadly force policy last month. Julian Wright, one of the board’s attorneys, told the paper Putney appeared more receptive to its ideas than in the past.
The department is not required to accept the board’s recommendations. Putney says he hopes to have a new deadly force policy ready by this fall.
