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I also know just how challenging such investigations can be and how difficult these cases are to prove. Prosecutors must first find that the force used was excessive as a matter of constitutional law. That means, in Fourth Amendment parlance, the force was an objectively unreasonable seizure. Prosecutors must prove this under a legal standard that explicitly allows “for the fact that…officers are often forced to make split-second judgments—in circumstances that are tense, uncertain, and rapidly evolving—about the amount of force that is necessary in a particular situation.” Graham v. Connor, 490 U.S. 386, 396-97 (1989).
