intentional lethal use of firearms may only be made when strictly unavoidable in order to protect life”. It may be stated that a law enforcement officer may be justified in using lethal force in the arrest of a person he reasonably believed to have committed an offence or is in the process of committing a felony involving the risk of serious harm or death to others. The important condition here is reasonable necessity. Thus, once there is such reasonable necessity, even if the reasonableness is wrong, the use of force will be justified. The United States Supreme Court in GRAHAM VS. CONNOT 490 US 386(1989) succinctly laid down the issues necessary for the determination of whether a circumstance of reasonable necessity exists to warrant the use of lethal force as follows-; a. What was the severity of the crime believed to have been committed? b. Did the suspect present immediate threat to the safety of the officers or the public c. Was the suspect actually resisting the arrest /or attempting to escape. The Court further observed that “the calculation of reasonableness must embody allowance of the fact that police 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. Thus, it is the law that when officers are confronted by particularly powerful suspects, additional force may be justified. Where a soldier on patrol shot and killed an unarmed man who ran away when challenged, Lord Diplock held exonerating the officer for murder and that soldier who is employed in the civil power is under a duty enforceable under Military Law to search for criminals if so ordered by his Superior officer and to risk his life should this be necessary in preventing terrorist acts. For the performance of this duty, he is armed with a firearm, a self- loading rifle from which a bullet, if it hits a human body is almost certain to cause serious injury if not death. Similarly, in R.V Clegg (1951) IAC 482, where a Military officer shot at a vehicle driving at a very high speed towards the check point/ Lord LLYOD of Berwick stated at P. 479; 42

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