When Force Is Used
Idaho Code § 19-610 and Idaho Code § 18-4011 — reasonable and necessary means, and deadly force only against a threat of death or serious injury
When a person being arrested on a warrant or on probable cause flees or forcibly resists after being told of the arrest, the officer may use all reasonable and necessary means to make it.
Deadly force. Deadly force is not justified in overcoming resistance unless the officer has probable cause to believe the resistance threatens death or serious physical injury to the officer or others, and is justified to prevent a felony suspect's escape only on probable cause that the person poses such a threat.
The state's own sections are not the only measure of police force. Under the Fourth Amendment, the Supreme Court of the United States has held that force used in an arrest, a stop or any other seizure is judged by objective reasonableness, from the perspective of a reasonable officer on the scene rather than with hindsight, and that deadly force may not be used to stop a fleeing suspect unless the officer has probable cause to believe the suspect poses a significant threat of death or serious physical injury to the officer or others. Those holdings are a floor: a state's own constitution and statutes can give more protection than they do, never less.
Civil claims over force are brought under federal civil rights law and state law. Whether particular force was lawful is a question for a licensed Idaho attorney.
Sources for this section (4)
- Idaho Code § 19-610 — What force may be used
- Idaho Code § 18-4011 — Justifiable homicide by officer
- Graham v. Connor, 490 U.S. 386 (1989) — Force during a seizure is judged by objective reasonableness from the officer's perspective at the time
- Tennessee v. Garner, 471 U.S. 1 (1985) — Deadly force against a fleeing suspect is unreasonable absent probable cause of a significant threat of death or serious injury
Legal information, not legal advice. Verified as of October 2026. Applying it to a particular situation is the work of a licensed Idaho attorney.