Within the Eric Garner case, I do not believe death had to be an option. Law enforcement never gave Garner proper warning for what they believed he was doing wrong. Instead they used extreme unlawful violence against that individual. What makes the situation a case of severe force was the simple fact that Garner did not pose a threat to any of the several officers that approached him that summer day and his life was still taken away.
The use of force can be determined by the individual, but there are situations in which most people do not agree with the outcome. Of course when using the phrase excessive force it is automatically associated with law enforcement. In the past few decades, police officers have become more violent in their approach to restrain an individual or control a disruptive setting. According to a sister of a killed unarmed black male, she stated that police officers believe they have to “’make split decisions’” (Police Officers Use Deadly Force Too Frequently). Why is it that the split decision is to kill or be killed? A lot of the time there is an issue of race that comes in the mix when this form of abuse is used. For example, an officer can injure or murder an individual or a typical person can claim self defense when just wanting to use that as an excuse to be hostile because of someone’s skin