Death Certification of “Suicide by Cop”

Neitzel, R B S Amber; Gill, James R.

doi:10.1111/j.1556-4029.2011.01891.x

Cited by 12 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 11 publications

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“…The phenomenon of a civilian engaging in aggressive behavior with the intent to provoke the use of deadly force by law enforcement officers to result in their own death, termed suicide by cop (13), is often discussed with officer-involved firearm fatalities (14)(15)(16)(17)(18)(19)(20)(21)(22). Part of this discussion in medicolegal death investigations is the debate on how these types of deaths should be certified, as suicide or homicide (27,28). Our study included six civilian decedents whose deaths were ruled as suicides; in all of these deaths, the forensic pathologist of record determined the fatal gunshot wound was self-inflicted.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Trends in Officer‐involved Firearm Deaths in Oklahoma from 2000 to 2015

Jorgenson

Wiens

Pfeifer

et al. 2017

Journal of Forensic Sciences

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The purpose of this study was to collect data and disseminate trends in officer-involved firearm deaths in Oklahoma from 2000 to 2015. The Oklahoma Office of the Chief Medical Examiner (OCME) database was searched for civilian decedents with gunshot wounds inflicted by law enforcement officers and officer decedents with gunshot wounds inflicted by civilians. Five decedents were law enforcement officers, while 274 decedents were civilians. The number of civilian decedents throughout the study followed a quadratic trend. Civilian decedents were most commonly males (95%) between the ages of 20 and 39 (64%), had one or two gunshot wounds (46%), and had an increasing number of gunshot wounds over time. Postmortem toxicology testing most commonly detected ethanol, methamphetamine, cocaine, and PCP. Efforts toward increased tracking by various agencies and more scientific studies like this are needed to facilitate future analysis of trends in officer-involved firearm deaths.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Trends in Officer‐involved Firearm Deaths in Oklahoma from 2000 to 2015

Jorgenson

Wiens

Pfeifer

et al. 2017

Journal of Forensic Sciences

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“…That seemed to be the case with Hrnciar, discussed above, though he committed suicide before the other officers returned fire. The designation ''suicideby-cop'' does appear valid at least in some reported cases, as in those discussed by Neitzell and Gill (2011). These authors gave vignettes of five persons where there was compelling evidence that they intended to end their own lives in that manner.…”

Section: The Influence Of Head Injurymentioning

confidence: 86%

Men Who Kill Policemen

StoneMichael

2015

Violence and Gender

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The present study concerns policemen in the United States who had been killed in the line of duty during the years 2013-2014. The study is limited to cases in which a policeman was killed intentionally, as opposed to accidentally or from a work-related illness. In almost all the 66 cases, the perpetrators (all of whom were male) used a gun. In a few cases, a policeman was killed by strangulation or by being run over by a car. Approximately half the men who had killed one or more policemen were then killed by other officers, or else committed suicide with their own weapons. Half the killers were men actively involved in a crime, often of domestic violence, who then killed an officer as he responded to the emergency. The remainder of the killers belonged to a dozen small categories: cop-hating ''white supremacists,'' those who hated police as representatives of government authority, men who grabbed an officer's gun, men of a paranoid personality who were reacting to being fired or evicted, men who were mentally ill or intoxicated, and a few others motivated by other factors. There was an overrepresentation of men from minority communities, chiefly blacks and Hispanics, but the ''excess'' murder rate was not as great as what exists for these groups in the general population. Also discussed are a number of societal factors that contribute to these disparities in the comparative rates of policemen killing within different social groups. There are fluctuations over time in the yearly frequency of policemen killed by intention: the rate for 2014 was nearly one-and-ahalf times that of 2013.

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“…The classic instance involves a person creating a confrontation with the police and escalating that encounter with violence or threats of violence in order to have the police shoot. The decedent's intent is to die and suicide notes have been recovered from these decedents (76). Despite this intent, some ME/C will certify these deaths as homicides.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Manner of Death for In-Custody Fatalities

Gill

Girela-López

2015

Academic Forensic Pathology

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In-custody deaths are typically investigated by a medical examiner or coroner (ME/C) and include those that occur while in the custody of the police or in a government detention facility (e.g., prison). The potential manners of death are natural, homicide, suicide, accident, therapeutic complication, and undetermined. Once the cause of death is determined, the manner of death is certified based upon the cause and the circumstances of death. Deaths in custody may be challenging due to the potential for death at the hand of another (e.g., inmate, corrections officer, or law enforcement agent) or due to neglect. When a government takes a person's liberty, they have a duty to ensure safe and adequate housing, food, and medical care. Failure of a responsible party to exercise proper care of a person in-custody, may affect the manner of death. Since in-custody deaths at the hand of a government agent can be challenging to certify, we will focus on these manners of death including those associated with excited delirium (ED). Although manners are easily and consistently applied in most deaths, there are nuances in some instances which may result in jurisdictional variations in the determination of the manner of death. We will discuss these variations as the determination made by the ME/C is an opinion based upon his/her particular training, experience, and judgment.

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Death Certification of “Suicide by Cop”

Cited by 12 publications

References 11 publications

Trends in Officer‐involved Firearm Deaths in Oklahoma from 2000 to 2015

Trends in Officer‐involved Firearm Deaths in Oklahoma from 2000 to 2015

Men Who Kill Policemen

Manner of Death for In-Custody Fatalities

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