Knife in a Studio Apartment: De-escalation and Duty to Intervene
At 9:40 p.m., you and your partner respond to a domestic disturbance at a third-floor studio apartment in Ward 4. The caller, a 19-year-old daughter, reports that her 46-year-old father, who has diagnosed schizophrenia and has not taken medication for four days, is holding a chef's knife and talking about 'the signal.' The apartment is roughly 400 square feet; the kitchenette is about 8 feet from the front door. The mother and daughter are sheltering in the bathroom. The father is pacing and has not threatened anyone since your arrival, but he steps toward the stove whenever his daughter speaks. Your partner has a Taser; you have a firearm and a baton. Backup is six minutes out, and the stairwell is narrow. The father has no known criminal history involving firearms, and the daughter says he has never hurt anyone. The building manager is calling the District's mobile crisis service, but no clinician has arrived.
1. What tactical and force options do you use in the first 60 seconds, and what facts drive your decision?
Read the worked answer
The first 60 seconds should be containment and communication, not entry. The father is in a small apartment with a knife, but he has not threatened anyone since arrival and his daughter's voice appears to agitate him. I would hold outside the doorway or just inside a fatal-funnel position with cover, keep my firearm at low-ready, and have my partner cover the kitchenette with the Taser from a position that does not cross my line of fire. I would assign one officer to talk: slow, short sentences, use his name, ask what 'the signal' means, and ask the daughter to stop speaking. I would request the Department of Behavioral Health mobile crisis team through dispatch and ask for additional officers or a less-lethal option. Under Graham v. Connor and MPD use-of-force policy, force must be objectively reasonable, proportional, and de-escalated when feasible. A Taser against a knife at close range is not a reliable primary option unless the subject is contained and another officer has lethal cover. If he advances with the knife into the reactionary gap and no cover is available, deadly force may be justified, but the facts supporting that must be articulated, not assumed.
2. Your partner Tasers the father, then strikes him twice with a baton after he is handcuffed. What must you do, and what are the consequences of doing nothing?
Read the worked answer
I must intervene to stop the strikes, or at least attempt to, once the father is handcuffed and no longer poses a threat. MPD policy imposes a duty to intervene in excessive force and a duty to report it; in constitutional terms, an officer who has a realistic opportunity to prevent a fellow officer's excessive force can be liable for failing to do so. After stopping the force, I would check the father's condition, request EMS, and make sure he is positioned so he can breathe. I would notify a supervisor immediately and document what I saw, including that I was holding the girlfriend and did not see the takedown but did see the baton strikes after handcuffing. I would preserve my BWC and my partner's BWC, identify witnesses, and write a statement before end of shift. Doing nothing is not loyalty; it exposes the partner, me, and the Department to discipline, civil liability, and loss of public trust. If the sergeant discourages reporting, I should go up the chain or to Internal Affairs.
3. What must your use-of-force report and notifications include, and what errors should you avoid?
Read the worked answer
The report should be a chronological, sensory account: the call, arrival, layout, where each person was, what the father said and did, the distance between him and officers, the knife, the de-escalation attempts, warnings given, the Taser deployment, the baton strikes, handcuffing, and medical aid. I would include the daughter's statement about the 'signal,' the medication history, and the mobile crisis request. I would document BWC activation and any gap. I should avoid conclusory words like 'lunged,' 'furtive,' or 'combative' unless I explain the observable behavior; avoid boilerplate; avoid saying 'force was necessary' without facts. I should not write opinions about the father's mental state beyond what I observed and was told. Notifications include a supervisor, the Use of Force Report, and any required mental-health referral. If the father is injured, photographs and medical records should be noted. The report must let a reviewer who was not there evaluate the objective reasonableness of each force decision.