The Relationship of Injury and Complaints of Police Use of Excessive Force

Use of excessive force (UOEF) is an important and controversial topic but little is known about how injury severity is related to allegations of UOEF. We hypothesized that such complaints would be associated with more significant traumatic injuries. Emergency department records were searched for all individuals making UOEF complaints against an urban police department from 2010 to 2012. Demographic, diagnosis, and other medical data, including Injury Severity Score, were obtained. From police records, force used, suspect resistance and threat, and other call data were obtained. The same data were collected for a control group randomly chosen from all use-of-force events identified during the study period. Of the 235 complaints filed, 42 (18%) subjects had medical evaluation. The control group was significantly younger and more likely to be male; there was no significant difference in race or income. Major injuries were infrequent. No significant difference was found in Injury Severity Score or other medical variables between the 2 groups. Among the law enforcement variables, the only significant difference was a higher likelihood of psychiatric-related calls in the control group. The majority of patients alleging UOEF did not require immediate medical attention, and we found no relationship between injury severity and UOEF complaints.