Substitute House Bill No. 6462
Public Act No. 21-4
AN ACT CONCERNING US E OF FORCE BY A PEACE OFFICER.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General
Assembly convened:
Section 1. (Effective March 31, 2021) Section 29 of public act 20-1 of the
July special session shall take effect January 1, 2022.
Sec. 2. Subsection (c) of section 53a-22 of the general statutes, as
amended by section 29 of public act 20-1 of the July special session, is
repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective January
1, 2022):
(c) (1) Except as provided in subsection (d) of this section, a peace
officer, special policeman appointed under section 29-18b or authorized
official of the Department of Correction or the Board of Pardons and
Paroles is justified in using deadly physical force upon another person
for the purposes specified in subsection (b) of this section only when his
or her actions are objectively reasonable under the given circumstances
at that time, and:
(A) He or she reasonably believes such use to be necessary to defend
himself or herself or a third person from the use or imminent use of
deadly physical force; or
(B) He or she (i) has [exhausted the] reasonably determined that there Substitute House Bill No. 6462
Public Act No. 21-4 2 of 2
are no available reasonable alternatives to the use of deadly physical
force, (ii) reasonably believes that the force employed creates no
[substantial] unreasonable risk of injury to a third party, and (iii)
reasonably believes such use of force to be necessary to (I) effect an
arrest of a person whom he or she reasonably believes has committed or
attempted to commit a felony which involved the infliction of serious
physical injury, and if, where feasible, he or she has given warning of
his or her intent to use deadly physical force, or (II) prevent the escape
from custody of a person whom he or she reasonably believes has
committed a felony which involved the infliction of serious physical
injury and who poses a significant threat of death or serious physical
injury to others, and if, where feasible, [under this subdivision,] he or
she has given warning of his or her intent to use deadly physical force.
(2) For purposes of evaluating whether actions of a peace officer,
special policeman appointed under section 29-18b or authorized official
of the Department of Correction or the Board of Pardons and Paroles are
reasonable under subdivision (1) of this subsection, factors to be
considered include, but are not limited to, whether (A) the person upon
whom deadly physical force was used possessed or appeared to possess
a deadly weapon, (B) the peace officer, special policeman appointed
under section 29-18b or authorized official of the Department of
Correction or the Board of Pardons and Paroles engaged in reasonable
deescalation measures prior to using deadly physical force, and (C) any
unreasonable conduct of the peace officer, special policeman appointed
under section 29-18b or authorized official of the Department of
Correction or the Board of Pardons and Paroles led to an increased risk
of an occurrence of the situation that precipitated the use of such force.