Deadly Force

When Dirty Harry uttered those icy, menacing words - "Make my day" - in the 1983 movie Sudden Impact, no one watching the vigilante fantasies on screen foresaw a legislative legacy. But actor Clint Eastwood has gone on to become mayor of Carmel, Calif., and there is controversy in Colorado and Oklahoma over deadly-force statutes commonly known as make-my-day laws. "It is essentially a license to kill," said Peter J. Stapp, a Colorado assistant attorney general. On April 30, Gov. Henry Bellmon of Oklahoma signed that state's version of the deadly-force law, over the objections of the state's district attorneys and only after some of the more extreme language was stricken.

"Enter to Learn, Leave to Serve" commands the sign above the entrance to the Philadelphia Police Training Academy on State Road. Last Saturday, the motto seemed particularly appropriate for the 15 Philadelphians who entered to begin at least 40 hours of training for a hands-on sense of what a police officer confronts every day. The 15 are members of the new Mayor's Police Advisory Commission, whose unpaid job it is to monitor the Philadelphia Police...

It's astonishing that Philadelphia's police should need a formal directive to keep them from beating suspects senseless in routine arrests, but apparently Commissioner Kevin Tucker believes it's necessary. He has decreed that nightsticks and blackjacks "may not be used to strike an individual with force intended to cause bodily injury or death, unless the officer would be justified in using deadly force. " Unfortunately, the directive comes too late to help Thomas Loyden. The 21- year-old man suffered severe head injuries in April, and is mentally disabled as a result of being hit on the head with a nightstick during his arrest in a neighborhood dispute in the Northeast.

CAIRO - Egypt's ruling generals repeated their pledge Thursday to transfer power to a civilian government within two months, a day after deadly clashes stoked by political tensions brought fresh accusations that the military was trying to create chaos so it could cling to power. At the same time, the ruling military council warned protesters that deadly force would be used against them if they approached the Ministry of Defense. At least 11 people were killed in clashes that broke out Wednesday when apparent supporters of the military rulers attacked a mostly Islamist crowd staging a sit-in outside the Ministry of Defense in Cairo to call for an end to the generals' rule.

SOMERSET, Pa. - A man who fatally shot his wife's lover with a bow and arrow will not face criminal charges, in part, because the state's expanded "castle doctrine" makes it legal to use deadly force on one's porch or deck, a prosecutor said Tuesday. State police have repeatedly said they believed the 38-year-old Central City man acted in self-defense when he killed Tony Bittinger, 43, of Salisbury, on Oct. 9. Somerset County District Attorney Jerry Spangler formally announced Tuesday that he agreed with police and that no criminal charges should be filed against the shooter, who has not been named by authorities.

SHINER, Texas - Hearing his 5-year-old daughter crying from behind a barn, a father ran and discovered the unthinkable: a man molesting her. The father pulled the man off his daughter, authorities say, and started pummeling him to death with his fists. With his daughter finally safe, the father frantically called 911, begging a dispatcher to find his rural ranch and send an ambulance. "Come on! This guy is going to die on me!" the man is heard screaming on the recording, which authorities played during a news conference Tuesday in which they announced that the father would not face charges.

James J. Fyfe, 63, who in his long career in law enforcement went from the streets of New York to teaching criminal science at Temple University before returning to New York as a deputy commissioner, died of cancer Saturday at University Medical Center at Princeton. Raised in Brooklyn, Dr. Fyfe joined the New York Police Department in 1963 as a patrolman. He continued his education, earning a bachelor's degree from John Jay College of Criminal Justice at the City University of New York in 1971, and a master's degree in 1972 and a doctorate in criminal justice in 1978, both from the State University of New York at Albany.

Amtrak's investigation into yesterday's fatal shooting of an unarmed Philadelphia man inside 30th Street Station will focus on whether deadly force was justified and whether the officer followed the agency's policy. Police and criminal-justice experts - and Amtrak's own directives - agree that deadly force should only be a final resort. Yesterday, Amtrak Police Officer Dennis Kelly, 38, shot Robert Brown, 45, once in the abdomen during a confrontation outside the McDonald's restaurant at the station.

Had seven Philadelphia police officers fired any more rounds in killing an incoherent, likely drug-addled man, investigators at the scene of the Sunday shooting might have had a problem: not enough number tags to mark the spent shell casings. It was that much of a Wild West show, with up to 85 shots fired. As yet another in a string of fatal shootings by city police, this one was particularly troubling - rousing comment even from the city's famously low-key top cop. The fusillade that killed Steven Miller, 30, who lived near 27th and Tasker Streets, put bystanders at risk - not to mention police themselves.

SHINER, Texas - Hearing his 5-year-old daughter crying from behind a barn, a father ran and discovered the unthinkable: a man molesting her. The father pulled the man off his daughter, authorities say, and started pummeling him to death with his fists. With his daughter finally safe, the father frantically called 911, begging a dispatcher to find his rural ranch and send an ambulance. "Come on! This guy is going to die on me!" the man is heard screaming on the recording, which authorities played during a news conference Tuesday in which they announced that the father would not face charges.

CAIRO - Egypt's ruling generals repeated their pledge Thursday to transfer power to a civilian government within two months, a day after deadly clashes stoked by political tensions brought fresh accusations that the military was trying to create chaos so it could cling to power. At the same time, the ruling military council warned protesters that deadly force would be used against them if they approached the Ministry of Defense. At least 11 people were killed in clashes that broke out Wednesday when apparent supporters of the military rulers attacked a mostly Islamist crowd staging a sit-in outside the Ministry of Defense in Cairo to call for an end to the generals' rule.

SANFORD, Fla. - George Zimmerman, who slipped out of jail on $150,000 bail in the early-morning darkness, went back into hiding Monday and likely fled to another state to avoid threats as he awaits his second-degree murder trial in the killing of Trayvon Martin. Later Monday, the Sanford City Commission rejected, 3-2, the resignation of Police Chief Bill Lee, who was roundly criticized for not initially charging Zimmerman and had stepped down temporarily in March to let emotions cool.

Pa. law differs from Florida's While the rush to judgment over Pennsylvania's recently expanded "castle doctrine" law was not at all unexpected given the Trayvon Martin shooting, it's important to realize the differences between our state's self-defense law and the law that was enacted in Florida ("Reconsider self-defense law," Friday). While Pennsylvania's self-defense law does contain a so-called stand-your-ground provision, eliminating the duty to retreat first when confronted with danger, it does not permit those legally carrying firearms to resort to using deadly force against an unarmed subject, as is the case with Florida's law. Ours is an equal-force provision, stating that the offender must display a weapon before the victim can resort to using deadly force in self-defense.

REACTING to the fatal shooting of Trayvon Martin, City Council called yesterday for state lawmakers to repeal Pennsylvania's recently expanded "castle doctrine" law. "We're asking the Legislature to repeal that law because copycats are everywhere, and so they are going to test the theory of whether or not you can be the aggressor based on some trumped-up reason that you think you're threatened," said Councilman Curtis Jones Jr., who introduced the...

After the fatal shooting of Trayvon Martin at the hands of a neighborhood-watch volunteer, City Council called Thursday for state lawmakers to repeal Pennsylvania's recently expanded "castle doctrine" law. "We're asking the legislature to repeal that law because copycats are everywhere, and so they are going to test the theory of whether or not you can be the aggressor based on some trumped-up reason that you think you're threatened," said Councilman Curtis...

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - The neighborhood watch volunteer who shot 17-year-old Trayvon Martin was arrested and charged with second-degree murder Wednesday after weeks of mounting tensions and protests across the nation. George Zimmerman, 28, could get up to life in prison if convicted in the slaying of the unarmed teenager. Special prosecutor Angela Corey announced the charges but would not discuss how she arrived at them or disclose other details of her investigation, saying: "That's why we try cases in a courtroom.

TYRIRK HARRIS, the Tacony man who riddled his neighbor with bullets in February after the man complained about Harris' dogs relieving themselves on his lawn, fired his gun out of fear, his attorney argued in court Tuesday. Franklin Manuel Santana, 47, was legally drunk and leveled threats when he came to Harris' front door on Torresdale Avenue between Magee Avenue and Hellerman Street on Feb. 14, defense attorney Jack McMahon said during a preliminary hearing. Harris, 27, was minding his own business when Santana "invaded his domain, his castle.

The misty, gray Saturday chill was not enough to keep a group of about 40 Gloucester County residents from donning hoodies and expressing their support for the family of Trayvon Martin. The controversy surrounding the killing of the black Florida teenager by white resident George Zimmerman in February has been a divisive issue throughout the country, but Clayton resident Jesse Jackson wanted to show how small towns could make an impact. "We're a very diverse small town and it affected all of us," Jackson said.

HARRISBURG - Could a shooting like the controversial one that left a Florida teenager dead happen here and no one be prosecuted? Does Pennsylvania's recently expanded "castle doctrine" law, affording gun owners greater leeway to open fire if they feel threatened away from home, set the stage for a tragedy like the one that cost 17-year-old Trayvon Martin his life? Doubtful, says Ed Marsico, president of the Pennsylvania District Attorneys Association. The group opposed the original bill on grounds it would lead to criminals getting away with murder.