“Officer Johnson, the culprit you arrested says you rampantly used excessive force during the arrest, and that it was done flagrantly. Is this true?” the defense attorney asked the officer.

“I don’t believe it was excessive. We were forced to use duress in this arrest. The culprit would not be cooperative, ma’am. We repeatedly admonished him that if he kept trying to run we would use force. He was being inexorable and still tried to run away so we were truly forced to use duress,” Officer Johnson replied. “It was inane of him to think that he could get away.”

“But Officer Johnson, you would have to concur that the injuries this man received during the arrest leads one to believe that you went over the line between necessary force and excessive force, do you not?” asked the attorney.

“I realize he received injuries, but we did not use excessive force—that is against our ethics. This man has killed more than 10 people in the last year. Did he think this would be clandestine? He knew he would get caught, and he was repeatedly cautioned that if he continued running, we would use force. We got our shot at him and we took it. We did what we had to do to bring this man to justice,” Officer Johnson said passionately. “And now I sit here, during this criminal’s trial, and get accused of using excessive force? Is this a joke? It is this man that committed a crime, not me. Let’s not forget that. I was just doing my job.”

“I must concur,” said the honorable Judge Burnett. “Miss Scarlet, I will not allow you to continue to harass this officer. Officer Johnson, you may step down. Let’s get back to the true criminal here.”