True or False: Federal policy allows shooting at moving vehicles to disable them.

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Accepted Answer

False. Department of Homeland Security policy (Management Directive 044-05) and DOJ use-of-force policy both prohibit "disabling fire"—shooting solely to stop a moving vehicle. Firearms may be discharged at a moving vehicle only if: (1) a person in the vehicle threatens the officer or others with deadly force by means other than the vehicle, or (2) the vehicle is deliberately operated to strike officers or others and deadly force is the last reasonable option to prevent death or serious injury. Despite this policy, authorities frequently justify motorist shootings by claiming the driver "weaponized" the vehicle. A 2021 New York Times investigation found this justification is routinely used even when evidence suggests the motorist was simply trying to leave. In the Renee Good case, DHS claimed she "weaponized her vehicle" and engaged in "an act of domestic terrorism," but video evidence and eyewitness accounts dispute that her slowly moving SUV posed an imminent deadly threat.

True or False: Federal policy allows shooting at moving vehicles to disable them.

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