Other LanguagesAGO 2022 NO. 1 >
- The term “physical force” is not defined in E2SHB 1310 or in the law more generally, and therefore there is significant uncertainty as to its meaning. The most natural reading of the statute’s plain language is that physical force includes all acts by officers that involve violence, compulsion, or constraint used against another person’s body, even if it is unlikely to cause pain or injury. However, physical touch that occurs in the course of rendering aid would generally not be physical force, provided the individual receiving assistance is not resisting.
- While the answer is unclear, the more likely reading of E2SHB 1310 is that officers may only use physical force under the circumstances listed in the statute. Therefore, the statute precludes an officer from using physical force in the context of an investigatory detention based solely on reasonable suspicion, even if the individual does not comply with the request to stop.
- In light of our answer to your second question, we conclude that officers may use physical force to take a person into custody under RCW 71.05, RCW 13.34, and RCW 43.185C only if they can articulate a permissible use of force specified in E2SHB 1310. In many cases, however, physical force may be justified under that statute to “protect against an imminent threat of bodily injury” when an officer takes someone into custody under these other statutes.