Nov 2025. Blues Vol 41 No.11

GUEST COMENTARYpolice

GUEST COMENTARYpolice law newsDaniel CarrOFFICER INVOLVED:Daniel Scott BurchWHAT HAPPENEDA Charlotte County, Floridadeputy was escorting a “victim”back to their apartment. Therewas an allegation that a neighbor(Daniel Scott Burge) hadassaulted the victim.During the escort Burch followedthe deputy and victim.Burch was visibly upset andcomplained that deputies hadbeen called to his residence numeroustimes. Burch then madeallegations against the victimbeing an “alcoholic” but did notmake physical contact with anyoneduring this interaction. Thedeputy told Burch to return to hisapartment and he refused.Burch then repeated the phraseto the victim, “Do it, or not doit” multiple times and motionedwith his hands for the victim toapproach.USE OF FORCEThe deputy then un-holsteredthe Taser and Burch stated, “Doit”.The deputy deployed the Tasertwo times. Neither deploymentachieved the desired result asBurch walked backward andswatted the probes away. Burchalso smacked the Taser devicewhile it was in the deputy’shands two separate times.Burch balled his fists, tooka fighting stance, and stated,“Come on motherfucker”.The deputy then transitionedto his handgun and gave Burchcommands to “Get on yourknees”. Burch smiled at the deputyand pulled out his cell phoneto record.Burch then swiped at andreached for the handgun. Burchdid make contact with theweapon while it was in the deputy’shand.The deputy then fired multiplerounds. Burch was struck diedfrom the injuries two days later.THE SHERIFF SPEAKSCharlotte County Sheriff BillCLICK TO WATCHPrummell issued this publicstatement after the OIS.*When a Sheriff that has along history of supporting thedeputies that work for him issuesa statement like this…thereis a problem.Law/PolicyThe Florida statute (776.012(2))that governs the use of deadlyforce states, “A person is justifiedin using or threatening to usedeadly force if he or she reasonablybelieves that using orthreatening to use such force isnecessary to prevent imminentdeath or great bodily harm tohimself or herself or another orto prevent the imminent commissionof a forcible felony.”18 The BLUES NOVEMBER ‘25

The use of force policy(11.19(B)(4)) for the CharlotteCounty Sheriff’s Office states,“Deputies are authorized to usedeadly force when a subject/inmate makes overt, hostile,attacking movements, with orwithout a weapon, with theintent to cause death or greatbodily harm to the Deputy orothers.”AnalysisBased on the applicable law,the deputy is only lawfully allowedto utilize deadly force ifhe reasonably believed that doingso would prevent imminentdeath or great bodily injury.Therefore, the question is…didthe deputy have a reasonablebelief that death or great bodilyinjury was imminent at the momentthe trigger was pulled?Occurring at that exact moment:• Burch was challenging thedeputy to a physical fight.• Burch had defeated two Taserdeployments.• Burch was not followingcommands.• Burch was swiping at andattempting to grab the gun fromthe deputy.Based on a totality of thecircumstances - the deputy didhave a reasonable belief thatdeath or great bodily injury wasimminent at the time that deadlyforce was utilized. The use ofdeadly force was legal underFlorida law.The main reason for thisconclusion is that - any lawenforcement officer would reasonablyperceive a deadly threatif a suspect reached for/swipedat their firearm.ISSUESEven though theOIS did not technicallybreak the law- there are multipleissues with this casethat must be discussed.There was NOHurryThe deputy knewthat Burch lived atthe complex andwas aware of hispersonal information.So, therewas no real fear offlight. The deputyshould have calledfor backup andwaited. There wasno hurry. If Burchretreated into hisapartment…great!Then deputies couldhave written a warrantand effectedthe arrest on theirterms - not his.TASER/SHOW OF FORCEBurch was antagonizing thedeputy and the ‘victim’, but hedid not attempt to initiate aphysical altercation. The deputydeployed the Taser whileBurch was standing there…justbeing annoying and not to stopan attack. Burch had not evenbeen advised that he was underarrest before force was used.Before the Taser was deployedthe deputy stated, “Go back toyour apartment”. That was not alegal order. And, Burch’s refusalto comply does not warrant atasing. The use of the Taser wasunreasonable.After Burch swatted away theTaser probes the deputy escalatedto drawing his firearm in ashow of force. Burch still had notphysically attacked anyone andthere was no objective reasonthat a firearm should have beenpulled. However, once the deputymade that decision - the nextprudent step would be to createsome distance, give commands,and request backup. Instead, thedeputy moved closer to Burchand closed the distance. Thedeputy appeared to try and go“hands on” with Burch whileholding firearm in the other hand.This is tactically, just, awful.The deputy should never haveThe BLUES - NOVEMBER ‘25 19